The metal used to galvanise steel has risen more than 11 percent in London so far in 2019 as zinc stocks at London Metal Exchange-registered warehouses, which fell by 1,125 tonnes on Friday, have halved to below 60,000 tonnes <MZN-STOCKS>.
In the short term, sentiment over shrinking stocks continues to ferment "but the medium- and long-term oversupply trend has not yet been broken" for zinc, Jinrui Futures wrote in a note. LME zinc prices should trade in a range of $2,700-$2,900 a tonne this week, the Chinese brokerage added.
FUNDAMENTALS
* ZINC: Three-month LME zinc rose as much as 1.3 percent to $2,746.50 a tonne, and stood at $2,740.50 as of 0344 GMT. The most traded zinc contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange nudged up 0.4 percent to 21,405 yuan ($3,184.08) a tonne by the end of the morning.
* ZINC TC: Global trader and miner Glencore has struck a deal with its Canadian subsidiary Noranda Income Fund on the terms of zinc treatment charges for the coming year, but did not disclose the fees.
* LME: The LME is launching seven new cash-settled futures contracts on Monday, including hot-rolled coil (HRC) steel, alumina and cobalt.
* COPPER: LME copper was flat at $6,397 a tonne, while ShFE copper slipped 0.1 percent to 49,080 yuan a tonne.
* COPPER: China's unwrought copper imports fell year-on-year in February to their lowest in 11 months, while copper concentrate imports tied the all-time monthly record, signalling that the world's top copper consumer is churning out more metal itself.
* FREEPORT: The Indonesian government has approved one-year export allowances for copper concentrate for miners PT Freeport Indonesia and PT Amman Mineral Nusa Tenggara.
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MARKETS NEWS
* Asian shares struggled for traction after U.S. employment data raised doubts about the strength of the global economy, while investor jitters ahead of crucial Brexit votes in the UK parliament this week weighed on the pound.