The Commodities Feed: Further China support measures

Iron ore prices have rallied by around 10% this morning, taking prices back above $112/t after further support measures came through from China in a bid to support the property market. Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen relaxed homebuying rules. These latest steps follow action taken last week, which included lowering borrowing costs and downpayment requirements.

Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) inventory data show that weekly inventories for all base metals (except nickel) fell over the reporting week. Copper stocks fell by 24,530 tonnes for the 12th consecutive week to 140,408 tonnes, the lowest since 9 February 2024. Meanwhile, aluminium inventories decreased by 7,324 tonnes to 279,171 tonnes. Lead and zinc stocks fell by 33.2%, and 6.4% over the week. In contrast, nickel inventories rose by 11.6% week-over-week to 25,504 tonnes.

The latest positioning data from the CFTC shows that speculators increased their net longs of COMEX copper by 14,765 lots for a third consecutive week to 37,103 lots as of 24 September. In precious metals, managed money net longs in COMEX gold increased by 2,213 lots to 254,841 lots over the last reporting week. Similarly, speculators increased net longs of silver by 3,776 lots for a third consecutive week to 46,088 lots as of last Tuesday.