BEIJING: London aluminium prices ticked higher on Friday as a rally driven by fears of supply disruptions caused by US sanctions on Russia's United Company Rusal, the world's second-biggest aluminium producer, regained momentum.
The metal had closed down 2.1 percent in the previous session and was mostly trading lower again on Friday before turning positive at the start of the European trading day.
Conditions remain "nervous and choppy amid the overhanging uncertainty", brokerage Sucden said in a note, adding that short-term direction was "likely to be headline-driven".
Aluminium is on track for a weekly rise of 9.3 percent in London and is up 24.6 percent so far this month. It climbed 11.9 percent last week in the wake of the Rusal sanctions announced on April 6, its biggest weekly jump since 1988.
FUNDAMENTALS
LME ALUMINIUM: Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.5 percent at $2,496.50 a tonne by 0723 GMT, having earlier fallen by as much as 2.8 percent. On Thursday it rose to $2,718, the most since May 5, 2011.
SHFE ALUMINIUM: The most-traded June aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed down 2.2 percent at 14,955 yuan ($2,379.78) a tonne, but has still gained 3.7 percent this week, its biggest weekly jump since the week ended Aug. 11, 2017.
NICKEL: LME nickel was down 1.6 percent, recovering from a dip of 3.4 percent earlier in the session. On Thursday it rose to as much as $16,690 a tonne, the most since Dec. 12, 2014, on fears the sanctions could be broadened to Russian nickel producer Nornickel before ending down 1.3 percent.
SHFE NICKEL: The most-traded July nickel contract on the ShFE closed down 3.2 percent at 104,260 yuan a tonne, after rising to its highest since June 2015 on Thursday. The exchange hiked transaction fees for the July contract from Friday.
ALUMINIUM: Rusal is stockpiling large quantities of aluminium at one of its plants in Siberia because US sanctions imposed this month have prevented it from selling the metal to customers, five sources close to the company said.
BANKS: Lenders to Rusal are exploring how to get rid of their exposure before a May deadline set by the United States, as the fallout from fresh sanctions pulls Russian loan pricing lower in Europe's secondary market.
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