London 08/07/2016 - Base metals ended the LME trading week in unspectacular fashion - having slogged it out in thin conditions earlier, they came off earlier lows to finish little changed.
Volumes have been unimpressive - aluminium saw the largest volume at 14,800 lots by the kerb,, outpacing copper's meagre 10,500 lots and nickel's 10,050 lots.
"We are not quite yet in the midst of the summer slowdown - August is when it is really quiet - and already volumes have been dire," an LME trader said. "Most of the business takes place now in the Asian sessions and then we limp along for the rest of the day."
Strong non-farm payrolls data had little impact on the complex - the US added a mammoth 287,000 jobs last month, beating expectations of 174,000, but the unemployment rate at 4.9 percent was below the forecast 4.8 percent.
Some participants downplayed the importance on the jobs report on the industrial metals sector, suggesting developments in China are increasingly the biggest driver, with traders cautious ahead of its CPI and PPI numbers over the weekend and M2 money and new loans data on Monday.
In the metals, copper closed at $4,711 per tonne, up $24 on Thursday's close. Stocks rose a net 2,500 tonnes to 223,225 tonnes and cancelled warrants climbed 3,875 tonnes to 52,500 tones - moves centred on New Orleans.
Inventories on the SHFE rose for the second consecutive week albeit marginally, up up 0.1 percent to 162,130 tonnes.
Aluminium at $1,663 was up $25. Stock moves were routine - inventories were down 5,775 tonnes to 2,351,250 tonnes, again their lowest since December 2009, and cancelled warrants fell 3,700 tonnes to 1,006,125 tonnes.
Spreads have started to attract interest, in particular the Oct/Nov date, which traded more than 6,000 lots during yesterday's kerb close.
"[This is] a spread to keep an eye on if those kinds of volumes are moving before it even comes to the cash/three month period," Triland noted.
Nickel at $9,890 was up $140 but seems to have largely priced in news that the Philippines has ordered the closure of two mines due to environmental issues.
"Furthermore, the issuance of exploration permits has been completely halted. This step taken by the Philippine government could result in lower nickel ore exports. Whereas the nickel price rose sharply [to eight-month highs above $10,400] in response to the news from the Philippines at the beginning of the week, it almost entirely ignored the latest reports," Commerzbank said.
Zinc ended $44 higher at $2,142 - stocks and cancelled warrants were both down 575 tonnes at 440,225 tonnes and 14,075 tonnes, respectively - and lead at $1,817 was $1.50 higher after stocks edged 125 tonnes lower to 184,525 tonnes.
Tin at $17,840 was up $95; stocks were unchanged. Steel was indicated at $300/325 cobalt at $24,500/25,000 and molybdenum at $14,750/15,250.
(Additional reporting by Vivian Teo, editing by Mark Shaw)