SHFE Metals Rose Across the Board with Copper Soaring, LME Metals Mostly Dropped, Silver Posts 6-Day Losing Streak, US SPR, Output Cuts and Surging Demand to Drive Up Oil Prices

Crude oil fell slightly today. As of 15:12 CST today, WTI oil and Brent oil both fell 0.34%.

On crude oil fundamentals, leaders of oil-producing countries have recently expressed their support for OPEC’s production cuts. Iran’s oil minister said on Wednesday that the oil market was on track following OPEC’s decision to cut output.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Energy stated that it may start to buy back oil to replenish Strategic Petroleum Reserve after June, or purchase 3 million barrels as early as August, which will bolter crude oil prices.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast in its latest oil market report that global oil demand will reach 102 million barrels per day, driven by demand from China. Two months ago, China’s oil demand hit 16 million barrels per day. Oil demand will surge by 2.2 million barrels per day this year.

As of 15:04, SHFE base metals prices rose across the board, and the LME metals prices generally fell. As of the closing of the intraday trading, SHFE copper jumped 2.21%, SHFE tin rose 2%, SHFE zinc rose 1.52%, SHFE aluminum rose 1.12%, SHFE lead rose 0.76%, and SHFE nickel rose 0.6%.

In terms of ferrous metals, iron ore rose by 1.91%, coke rose by 0.63%, hot-rolled coil rose by 0.53%, stainless steel and rebar rose by 0.3%. Coking coal rose by 0.21%.

As of 15:08, LME nickel fell 0.62%, LME copper dipped 0.45%, LME zinc dropped 0.18%, LME aluminium fell 0.17%, LME lead fell 0.12%; LME tin rose 0.74%.

In terms of precious metals, SHFE gold fell for three consecutive days, and SHFE silver fell for six consecutive days, down 0.44% and 0.09% respectively.

As of 15:12 today, COMEX gold and silver fell 0.29% and 0.55% respectively.
Source: SMM