London 27/06/2016 - Base metals were largely rangebound during less-active Monday trading on the LME, with most settling lower - sentiment is turning cautious in the wake of the UK voting to leave the European Union (EU) last week, traders said.
Apart from copper, prices in the complex finished in the minus column although all markets were above the low points reached in the Friday sell-off.
"Markets continue to absorb the impact of the UK referendum while the potential ramifications are yet to fully play out over the coming days, months and years," a trader said.
Around 52 percent of voters in the EU referendum voted to leave compared to the 48 percent who voted to stay. Following the results, UK Prime Minister David Cameron resigned.
"Markets still need more time to get the shock of Friday's vote out of their system, which means we will continue to trade in sloppy fashion for some time to come," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said.
The firmer dollar is also acting as a depressant, with the dollar index last around a stronger at 96.36.
In today's data from the US, the goods trade balance disappointed at -$60.6 billion as did the flash services PMI at 51.3. Earlier, EU M3 money supply came in better than expected at 4.9 percent and private loans were as forecast at 1.6 percent.
In the metals, copper traded in a fairly compact range of some $95 before closing around the middle at $4,710 per tonne, up $12 on Friday's close. In today's warehouse data, stocks fell a net 675 tonnes to 191,700 tonnes and cancelled warrants were down 1,050 tonnes to 51,825 tonnes.
Aluminium slipped under $1,600 to finish at $1,596.50, down $23. Stocks and cancelled warrants were both down 6,900 tonnes at 2,408,975 tonnes and 1,040,700 tonnes respectively.
In others, nickel was back under $9,000. concluding at $8,980, down $40 - stocks fell 312 tonnes to 381,792 tonnes. Zinc was $23 lower at $1,995; stocks surged 17,625 tonnes to 429,775 tonnes - a move centred on New Orleans and a move that is widely believed to be simply off-warrant material being moved around.
Lead closed $8 lower at $1,702, while stocks and cancelled warrants both slipped 25 tonnes to 185,625 tonnes and 73,350 tonnes respectively. Tin ended at $16,815, down $335, with stocks and cancelled warrants both falling 75 tonnes to 6,105 tonnes and 1,255 tonnes respectively.
Steel billet was indicated at $300/325, cobalt at $23,500/24,000 and molybdenum at $16,500/17,000.
(Additional reporting by Ewa Manthey, editing by Mark Shaw)