After another morning of glitches in the LME Select machine, electronic trading on the exchange resumed at midday on Tuesday with a rollback to the previous version. However, as traders got to grips with doing without it, volumes rose on the day, as did prices for a while, again powered by zinc and lead. Aluminium, however, failed to make any headway towards well-flagged resistance c. 2830, with locals reporting signs of abandonment, in some quarters. The market had peaked at 2818 before we signed off yesterday and as tightness surrounding December (20th) slackened, so did outright values. Oil prices came off in the afternoon, gold stagnated and some heavy aluminium lending in the pm kerb appeared to signal that 'someone' was shaping up for a correction in the market, observers noted. The move wiped $20 off the 3-month price in the closing stages, trading at 2792 on the closing bell.
With many 'big beasts' swimming in the aluminium market and most large volume carries crossed off-market, it is difficult to read at the best times what moves are afoot. However, fears about a liquidity squeeze around Dec20th appeared to recede generally and while Dec20-27 stayed at a modest $2.00 backwardation, the balance to Jan17 was now rated Level (1.00b). The tail end of C-3m also eased with Jan-3m at a linear 7.00b (9.00b). Forwards were lent too with 3m-Dec'07 in at 180.00b on evaluation (200.00b). Beyond there, 2008 held steady overall, 2009 slipped incrementally, while in 2010 Q1 lost $2.50/mth and Q4 gained $2.00/mth.
Electronic trading resumed in Asia at 2798 on Wednesday morning and at time of writing prices had ranged between 2800 and 2785 on volumes of less than 1,000 lots so far. While some observers may have noted some signs of desertion, Cliff Green Consultancy firmly held on to the bull script in their latest report last night. The FSA-authorised trading strategists remained lurking buyers on dips towards 2750, they said, expecting resistance to be freshly challenged "in the coming days".
豫公网安备41010502003434号