Most base metals traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were little changed to firmer during morning trading on Wednesday February 27, with the complex broadly benefitting from lingering optimism on a trade deal between China and the United States and softness in the US dollar.“A weaker USD spurred by a dovish [US Federal Reserve] saw investors return to the base metals sector,” Jack Chambers, interest rate strategist and economist at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), said in a morning note. Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee in Washington DC on Tuesday, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell reiterated a dovish approach to further interest rate increases, saying that the central bank would be „patient“.
Tin was the only metal to weaken substantially over the morning trading session on Wednesday; the metal’s most-traded May contract on the SHFE stood at 150,610 yuan ($22,482) per tonne as at 10am Shanghai time, down by 940 yuan per tonne or 0.6% from Tuesday’s close.
Tin continues to retreat from highs reached on Monday after prices surged following news that local miner Yinman Mining had been suspended by the Emergency Management Agency due to an accident at the company’s mine over the weekend.
“Although Yinman’s mine accident has led to worries of mine inspections on a wider scale, in relation to the company’s output itself, the affected volume is quite limited on a national scale,” according to Chinese broker Jinrui Futures.
“Downstream participants were hesitant of the soaring prices on Monday, resulting in muted demand which in turn put downward pressure on tin prices,” Jinrui Futures added.
