SMM Evening Comments (Feb 28)

SHANGHAI, Feb 28 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals futures saw mixed trading on Wednesday February 28 with SHFE lead leading the loss with a 1.5% drop. SHFE copper was down by 1.4%, zinc slid over 1%, while nickel edged down. Aluminium and tin inched up.

In the ferrous market, rebar and hot-rolled coil were up slightly while coking coal was down over 1%. Coke and iron ore edged down.

Copper: The SHFE 1804 contract stayed weak during the day and we expect it to test the support at the 10-day moving average tonight. Market participants will take cues from US pending home sales data tonight.

Aluminium: As more investors with long positions entered the market, SHFE aluminium outperformed its base metals peers during the day, touching a high at 14,350 yuan/mt. Destocking in high season and increasing coal prices would give support to aluminium prices.

Nickel: SHFE 1805 nickel is expected to be rangebound tonight with a fund outflow of 250 million yuan during the day. Investors would look out for the revised figure of US real GDP in the fourth quarter and weekly crude oil inventory as of February 23.

Zinc: SHFE zinc touched a low at 26,290 yuan/mt today but climbed back up and traded rangebound around the 10-day moving average. We see firm support at the 40-day moving average with limited downward room.

Tin: SHFE tin performed relatively well as nonferrous metals dropped for the most part. We expect the contract to remain rangebound in the short term, with pressure at 149,000 yuan/mt level and support at the 146,000 yuan/mt level.