SINGAPORE: Shanghai lead rose on Thursday, tracking a rally in London prices in the previous session, as investors were worried about a supply shortage amid some maintenance activities in China.
The most-traded lead contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 1.1% to 16,695 yuan ($2,429.42) a tonne at 0703 GMT, while London lead advanced 0.2% to $2,089 a tonne.
Three-month lead on the London Metal Exchange (LME) jumped 2.6% on Wednesday, its strongest gain in more than six weeks, as lead stockpiles in LME-approved warehouses <MPBSTX-TOTAL> fell to a fresh decade low of 57,425 tonnes.
London nickel dropped in early European trading hours, falling 3% to $14,115 a tonne, while Shanghai nickel ended down 1.7% at 110,040 yuan a tonne.
"Some people were very happy with the price increase yesterday and they expected price will be back to $15,000 again. However, today is a big drop. It's just a big divergence between different companies," said a nickel analyst based in China.
FUNDAMENTALS
* PRICES: London copper was almost unchanged at $6,000.50 a tonne, while aluminium fell 0.2% and zinc declined 0.4%. Shanghai copper edged up 0.1%, aluminium advanced 0.8% and zinc dipped 0.1%.
* LEAD SPREAD: The difference between the LME cash lead contract over the three-month lead contract <CMPB0-3> flipped to a premium of $1.5 a tonne on Wednesday, indicating near-term supply shortage.
* YUGUANG LEAD: Henan Yuguang Gold and Lead Co, China's top lead producer, is due to finish its maintenance at a lead smelter in Jiyuan, Henan province on Thursday, an official at the firm said.
* TIN: Three-month tin spread <CMSN0-3> also switched to a premium of $10 a tonne after staying in discount for most of July. Shanghai tin rallied 1.4%, while LME tin fell 0.7% after jumping the most in three weeks in the previous session.
* TRADE TALKS: Top U.S. and Chinese negotiators will meet face-to-face next week for the first time since Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to revive talks to end their year-long trade war.
* COPPER: The chief executive officer of Polish miner KGHM said on Wednesday he expected copper prices to fluctuate around $6,000 per tonne by the end of the year.
* "We believe that considerably higher copper prices are justified from a fundamental perspective," said Commerzbank analysts in a note, citing a deficit in the copper market.
* ALUMINIUM: The shutdown of 1.5 million tonnes-per-year of alumina refining capacity in China will curb oversupply of the aluminium raw material and see prices currently languishing near two-year lows reach a bottom, research house Antaike said.
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