By Eileen Soreng
Dec 14 (Reuters) – Shanghai aluminium futures hit a more than two-week high on Tuesday, supported by low inventories and improving demand amid easing Chinese restrictions on energy use.
The most-traded January aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SAFcv1 closed up 1.7% at 19,210 yuan ($3,018.92) a tonne, after hitting a peak since Nov. 26 at 19,315 yuan.
Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange CMAL3 inched 0.1% lower to $2,651 a tonne by 0715 GMT, having earlier hit a peak since Dec. 2 at $2,665.
There is no large-scale resumption of aluminium output in the near future and northern China might cut production to curb pollution ahead of the Winter Olympics early next year, said Huatai Futures in a report.
As China eases energy consumption curbs, downstream aluminium processing companies continue to expand operations, and consumption continues to improve, it added.
The premium of LME cash aluminium over the three-month contract MAL0-3 hit near a two-week high of $16.20, indicating tightness in short-term supplies.
LME warehouse inventories MALSTX-TOTAL were at 909,650 tonnes, hovering near a September 2007 low of 882,800 tonnes hit earlier this month.
FUNDAMENTALS
* On-warrant LME inventories MCUSTX-TOTAL rose to 80,350 tonnes, their highest in more than two months, with LME cash copper on the three-month contract MCU0-3 flipping to a discount of $12.50 a tonne, first time since Sept. 17.
* Chinese refined copper slipped to a discount of 30 yuan a tonne SMM-CU-PND.
* LME copper CMCU3 was steady at $9,453 a tonne, zinc CMZN3 rose $3,339.5, nickel CMNI3 fell 0.7% to $19,570 a tonne and lead CMPB3 was down 0.7% to $2,282 a tonne.
* ShFE copper SCFcv1 fell 0.7% to 68,910 yuan a tonne, nickel SNIcv1 fell 1.5% to 142,690 yuan a tonne, lead SPBcv1 rose 0.1% to 15,715 yuan a tonne and tin SSNcv1 gained 1.2% to 287,790 yuan a tonne.
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($1 = 6.3632 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
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