BEIJING, July 19 (Reuters) - Three-month zinc on the London
Metal Exchange (LME) gave up early gains to trade sharply lower
on Thursday as another broad sell-off in industrial metals took
hold.
Shanghai zinc had earlier jumped by the daily limit of 6
percent to a one-week top following a report that China plans to
boost liquidity in the banking sector, and was underpinned by
falling inventories and a weaker yuan.
The LME sell-off that followed came as a China foreign
ministry spokeswoman described as "shocking" comments from U.S.
economic adviser Larry Kudlow that Chinese President Xi Jinping
was "holding up" a deal to resolve a trade row between the two
countries.
Matt France, head of Asia institutional metal sales at
brokerage Marex Spectron, said in a note that dips in metals
prices "continue to offer up value on an intra-day basis" but
"the bearish trend remains intact."
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME ZINC: Three-month zinc on the LME rose as much
as 2.1 percent earlier in the session, but was down 3.6 percent
at $2,507.50 a tonne, as of 0739 GMT. In the previous session,
the metal gained 3.5 percent, its biggest daily jump in almost a
year.
* SHANGHAI ZINC: The most-traded September zinc contract on
the ShFE touched its highest since July 10 before
closing up 3.5 percent at 21,125 yuan ($3,126.99) a tonne for a
second straight daily gain.
* CHINA: The People's Bank of China plans to introduce
incentives that will boost the liquidity of commercial banks,
helping them to expand lending, according to a source with
direct knowledge of the matter.
* CHINA: China's zinc output fell 5 percent year-on-year to
475,000 tonnes in June, the National Bureau of Statistics said
on Wednesday.
* OTHER METALS: Shanghai base metals closed higher across
the board, but LME copper was trading down 2.3 percent,
nickel down 2.6 percent and lead down 2.5
percent in a broad sell-off.
* COPPER: Three senior executives at Jiangxi Copper Co
, one of China's biggest copper producers,
have left their roles, the company said in a stock exchange
filing on Wednesday, in a major managerial shake-up at the
state-run firm.
