On May 17, OME prices soared across the board with some contract months rising to the day's limit-highs on active fresh buying and short-covering as LME three-month aluminium extended the gains on funds' buying to $1,522, up $38 from the previous day. Distant March contract at OME advanced to 168.1 yen on bulls' buying. Later, despite the news on a major U.S. aluminium producer curbing its aluminium output by over 7,000 tonnes a month starting in June, distant March contract at OME failed to rise further on long-liquidation and closed at 166.7 yen amid the concerns over the higher level.
"Most participants will focus on the direction of the yen next week as Nikkei Average Index at Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) renewed its low of the year after extending the losses. Meanwhile, if the continued decrease in stocks at LME designated warehouses and the curb on the production by the major aluminium producer mentioned above are regarded as market-moving factors in OME Aluminium futures market, distant month will rebound to the 170 yen level," traders said. The price of distant month has fallen below the 170 yen level since March 29.
This week's total volume of trading totaled 29,339 lots. The open interest totaled 50,788 lots as of May 19.
