On April 11, distant month rebounded to 163.8 yen on hurried buying for profit-taking due to a lull in the fall in LME Aluminium futures. Later however, buying interest waned in the absence of market-moving factors. Furthermore, there were some bearish factors, such as LME three-month aluminium sinking below the $1,450 level and the yen's surge to the 104 yen level after the plunge in N.Y. stocks. With these factors, on April 17, distant three months recorded their life-time lows on aggressive stop-loss selling and distant month dropped to the day's limit-low at 157.1 yen. On April 20, distant month resisted to decline and closed the day at 157.9 yen on short-covering with the concerns over the oversold conditions.
On April 21, current May contract surged to the day's limit-high at 161.1 yen on short-covering as the price was perceived to be lower than the physical prices. This rise in current month encouraged buying in other months and distant month steadied to 159.5 yen. On April 26, distant month advanced further to 161.2 yen on fresh buying and short-covering as LME Aluminium futures went higher on funds' buying following the gain in its copper market after Easter Holidays. On April 28, distant month extended the gain on continued light short-covering due to the decrease in the stocks at LME designated warehouses. Most players, however, were taking a wait-and-see attitude ahead of the Japanese Golden Week Holidays.
The volume of trading for this month totaled 165,717 lots. The open interest totaled 52,851 lot as of April 28.
