Osaka Mercantile Exchange Weekly Aluminium Futures Report

This week, the spot month in OME aluminium futures expired lower. The other contract months, however, firmed slightly on short-covering. Distant month : opening 166.8 yen, a high 168.0 yen (Sep. 29), a low 162.9 yen (Oct. 1), closing 62.9 yen. At the beginning of the week, OME aluminium futures went lower on long-liquidation as LME aluminium had eased on selling for correction after renewing this year's high last week. On the same day, players expected that spot month would expire calmly because no delivery transactions were expected. Spot month, however, expired lower at 162.1 yen, down 4.8 yen from the previous day on selling by physical-holders. On September 28, the prices at OME turned sharply higher on active short-covering due to a lull in the price-falls in overseas markets and to the surge in the precious metals. Nearby months surged to the day's limit-highs. Later, the prices failed to advance further as buying interest waned in the absence of other encouraging factors. The yen went lower against the dollar as G7 meeting had announced concern about the yen's upsurge. Some players, however, had doubts about the possibility of the joint intervention in the foreign exchange markets. This uncertainty about the direction of the yen made participants at OME take a wait-and-see attitude. This week's total volume of trading was 42,038 lots.