The US dollar index dipped on Tuesday on higher US interest rates. Bolstered by hopes that China will pump money into building metals-intensive infrastructure, LME base metals closed higher across the board on Tuesday. LME and SHFE aluminium crept up slightly.
Three-month LME aluminium climbed to an intraday high of US$1,797.5 per tonne on Tuesday before it lost most of those gains to close the trading day at US$1,778 per tonne. The unwinding of short positions \accounted for the gains on the day. LME aluminium is expected to trade between US$1,770-1,820 per tonne today.
As on June 11, Tuesday, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at US$ 1754 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1754.50 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1783 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 1784 per tonne; Dec 20 bid price stands at US$ 1903 per tonne, and Dec 20 offer price stands at US$ 1908 per tonne.
The LME aluminium opening stock dropped to 1096300 tonnes. Live Warrants totalled at 708875 tonnes, and Cancelled Warrants were 387425 tonnes.
LME aluminium 3-months Asian Reference Price is hovering at US$ 1782 per tonne.
SME and SHFE Aluminium Price Trend
The benchmark aluminium price on Shanghai Metal Exchange (SME) gained slightly today to US$ 2026 per tonne from US$ 2015 per tonne on Monday.
The most-active SHFE contract moved to the August contract, which climbed along with the five-day moving average, to a high of RMB 13,985 per tonne. It finished at that level, up 0.54% on the day. This ended two consecutive trading days of decline. While improved sentiment bolstered base metals in the afternoon, fundamentals limited the growth in aluminium prices. The SHFE August contract came off from earlier highs to end overnight 0.25% higher at RMB13,985 per tonne. As investors monitor Chinese economic data slated for release today, SHFE aluminium is expected to trade between RMB 13,900-14,200 per tonne, with spot premiums of RMB 10-30 per tonne over the June contract.