The US market is closed today for a national holiday. The index futures rebounded slightly as the bearish sentiment cooled somewhat from last week’s sell-off. The dollar gauge edged lower. European stocks were higher, whilst the French equity benchmark weakened after President Macron lost his absolute majority in parliament, adding uncertainty to the reform agenda. Meanwhile, the cable settled at around 1.250 as the country continues to battle rising inflation and labour strikes over the week.
Metals on the LME highlighted the concerns felt about global growth; however, the sentiment reversed in the later hours, with some moderate gains seen across the complex. Copper fell below the support level of $9,000/t, the level not breached since October 2021, falling down to trade at $8,979/t. Aluminium found support at $2,480/t before gaining footing to $2,536.50/t. Alumina exports out of China soared in May, with 190,000t being shipped primarily to Russia as shortages in the country persist. This equates to a growth of nearly 1,000% year on year. At the same time, imports of steel products fell to the lowest level since 2000. Lead and zinc closed marginally higher at $2,068.50/t and $3,517.50/t, respectively. Iron ore fell by 7% d/d, erasing this year’s gains to close at $110.94/mt; support at that level caused the metal to edge higher the next day. Chinese banks kept their lending rates unchanged today, given the lacklustre recovery from covid restrictions and tighter monetary policy environment elsewhere. The market remains in a wait-and-see mode as they await improvement from both economic and fiscal standpoints; however, with the reimposition of lockdown measures in big cities, the recovery will take longer than originally anticipated.
Oil fluctuated as investors weighed on the global demand outlook. WTI and Brent trading at $110/bl and $113/bl. Precious metals were mixed, with gold and silver edging slightly lower into $1,837/oz and $21.59/oz, respectively.
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All price data is from 20.06.2022 as of 17:30
