Aluminium touches three-week high, supply back in focus
XLB•Other base metals edge higher amid weaker dollar
Elsewhere, copper and zinc, which led Wednesday's industrial metals losses on cooling supply concerns and a macroeconomic risk-off, had uneven gains.
LME copper CMCU3 was up 0.14% while it gained 0.34% on the SHFE SCFcv1. LME zinc CMZN3 added 0.36% while the SHFE price SZNcv1 nudged down 0.04%.
The key LME cash-to-three-month copper spread CMCU0-3 remained in backwardation on Wednesday, signaling tight availability but tightened to $87.56 a ton, its narrowest since August 21.
The U.S. dollar index =USD fell 0.13% on Thursday, providing support for the wider base metals complex. A weaker dollar makes greenback-denominated commodities cheaper for buyers using other currencies.
Meanwhile, bond and stock markets rallied, and expectations of a September U.S. interest rate hike softened to 62% from 67% on Monday, according to the CME's Fedwatch tool. Higher rates threaten to dampen demand for growth-dependent commodities by weighing on economic activity.
Among LME metals, lead CMPB3 was steady, nickel CMNI3 was little changed, up only 0.04%, and tin CMSN3 gained 0.69%.
On the SHFE, lead SPBcv1 lost 0.37%, nickel SNIcv1 rose 1.65% and tin SSNcv1 added 0.26%.
Aluminium rises on supply tightness and improved sentiment
Aluminium prices rose on Thursday, buoyed by continued supply tightness and a slight improvement in economic risk sentiment, which also boosted other industrial metals.
Benchmark three-month aluminium CMAL3 on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.3% at $3,293.5 a metric ton by 0300 GMT. Earlier, it touched $3,306.50, its highest since August 13.
The most-traded aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SAFcv1 rose 1.08% to 24,320 yuan a ton.
