Zinc snaps six-day rally as rising stocks ease tightness
XLB•Other LME metals also weaken
In other LME metals, copper CMCU3 lost 0.5% to $14,177.50 a ton in cautious trade as the market awaited Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's speech on Friday for further clues on the path for U.S. interest rates.
The metal is down for the second session, having closed at a record high of $14,349.5 on Tuesday and touching the highest since January of $14,437 on Wednesday amid worries about tight inventories outside the U.S.
"Copper's latest record high triggered profit-taking rather than follow-through buying, potentially indicating that prices have rallied as far as they can for now," said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.
LME aluminium CMAL3 fell 0.7% to $3,204, lead CMPB3 dipped 0.5% to $1,900, tin CMSN3 eased 0.2% to $54,655 and nickel CMNI3 was down 0.5% at $16,795.
Zinc falls as inventories rise
Zinc prices fell on Thursday as rising inventories eased concerns about supply tightness outside China, breaking a six-session rally during which speculative buying drove the metal to its highest level in four years.
Benchmark three-month zinc CMZN3 on the London Metal Exchange was down 1% at $3,855 a metric ton by 1002 GMT. The contract hit $3,949.5, its highest since June 2022, on Wednesday.
Stocks and market surplus ease supply worries
Daily LME data showed that zinc stocks rose to a three-week high of 97,875 tons after 1,100 tons of inflows to the LME-registered warehouses in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Analysts expect more inflows to the inventory, mainly from China, as the premium of the LME cash zinc contract over the benchmark CMZN0-3 finished Wednesday at $199 per ton, the highest level since December, compared with a discount of $25 three months ago.
