Supply glut, cautious demand, and fading cost support drag the benchmark contract down RMB 205/mt in the week of March 30 – April

Due to declining operating enthusiasm among lead smelters and the recovery of supply from lead-zinc mines in China, lead concentrates in the Chinese market were slightly more abundant in April. In addition, affected by weak silver prices and unclear expectations, smelters actively negotiated prices as by-product revenue declined. It is understood that the tender and bid prices for lead concentrates at some lead-zinc mines have already risen slightly by varying amounts of 30-50 yuan/mt Pb, while smelters maintained strong wait-and-see sentiment. In regions such as Hunan and Yunnan, some small-scale smelters still extended their maintenance-related shutdown cycles. Although sentiment in the precious metals market was pessimistic in the short term, the payable indicator for silver content in lead concentrates with various silver grades in the market has not yet been adjusted. Negotiations between mines and smelters mainly focused on increasing TCs. Except that some silver concentrates whose coefficient was raised in Q1 (with silver content above 3,000 g/t) no longer quoted high prices above 0.97, the silver payable indicators of other types of silver-bearing lead concentrates remained stable.

Thu, 02-Apr-2026 12:23 Gold investing sentiment never stronger outside financial or Covid crisis... GOLD's SHARPEST price drop in 13 years just saw a record number of investors buy the precious metal on BullionVault as the US and Israel went to war with Iran, writes Adrian Ash at the world-leading marketplace. Private investors have seized on gold's price drop because this sudden retreat has given buyers the chance to reset the clock back before January's historic price spike. After setting new all-time highs and rising for 9 months in a row − gold's longest-ever run of unbroken gains − the price of gold sank by 11.8% in March (-10.5% in UK Pounds, -9.7% in Euros) as the oil-price shock drove profit-taking by central banks, institutional investors and traders needing to cover losses in stocks and bonds. Jumping on the price drop, the number of investors choosing to buy gold on BullionVault − now used by 130,000 private investors worldwide and finding 9-in-10 of its clients in Western Europe and North America − rose by almost one-fifth from February's count (+18.2%). That meant buyers topped this New Year's previous record and outnumbered sellers (who rose 0.4%) nearly 3-to-1. It also means that investing sentiment in gold has only been stronger at the peak of the financial crisis and then the Covid pandemic. Tracking the number of buyers versus sellers on BullionVault each month, the Gold Investor Index is a unique gauge of sentiment built solely from actual gold trading decisions. Rebased so that a reading of 50.0 would signal a perfect balance of buyers and sellers, the Global Gold Investor Index set a lifetime high of 71.7 in September 2011, and it hit a series low of 47.5 in March 2024 when gold prices rose to what were then fresh record prices in the absence of any notable economic or financial stress. This March the Gold Investor Index rose to 60.7, adding 2.3 points to reach its highest reading since August 2020 and extending the uptrend begun on the eve of the US presidential election in autumn 2024 . Having risen so sharply during Trump's first year back in the White House, gold has shocked many observers by falling during the Iran War so far. But while gold now faces headwinds from higher inflation threatening a rise in interest rates, the danger of economic stagflation only boosts the need to spread portfolio risk as the geopolitical order breaks down. The breadth of demand says that gold remains a compelling investment in today's uncertain and increasingly dangerous world. In contrast to gold, investing sentiment in silver fell in March as the more industrially-useful precious metal sank in price, with BullionVault's gauge dropping to a 4-month low. But that still put the Silver Investor Index at 60.1, greater than all but 12 of the series' 170 previous monthly readings. Silver's price crash of 19.2% in US Dollar terms was its worst 1-month loss since September 2011 (the worst in GBP since Sept '11 at 17.5%; the worst since March 2020 in EUR at 16.8%). In response, investors using BullionVault bought almost 1.5 tonnes more than they sold as a group, taking total client holdings to 1,134 tonnes worth more than $2.6bn (£2.0bn, €2.3bn). Gold's price drop meanwhile saw BullionVault users buy more gold than they sold by weight for the first time since October, growing their total holdings by 0.2% to more than 43.4 tonnes worth $6.4 billion (£4.8bn, €5.5bn). New account openings fell by 1/3rd from February's figure (-33.2%) and totalled less than 2/5ths of January's all-time record (-60.5%). But March still marked the 8th strongest month for first-time users of BullionVault in the West London fintech's 21-year history. Altogether, the first 3 months of 2026 have now brought more new customers to BullionVault than all but 3 full calendar years since it opened in April 2005. Adrian Ash Adrian Ash is director of research at BullionVault, the world-leading physical gold, silver, platinum and palladium market for private investors online. Formerly head of editorial at London's top publisher of private-investment advice, he was City correspondent for The Daily Reckoning from 2003 to 2008, and he has now been researching and writing daily analysis of precious metals and the wider financial markets for over 20 years. A frequent guest on BBC radio and television, Adrian is regularly quoted by the Financial Times , MarketWatch and many other respected news outlets, and his views from inside the bullion market have been sought by the Economist magazine, CNBC, Bloomberg, Germany's Handelsblatt and FAZ , plus Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore. See the full archive of Adrian Ash articles on GoldNews. Please Note: All articles published here are to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events – and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on it. Please review our Terms & Conditions for accessing Gold News . Source: https://www.bullionvault.com/gold-news/gold-investor-index/buy-gold-iran-war-040220261

The gold price set a technical signal last week while providing fresh fuel for the debate over its future direction.

SMM News, April 2: This week, total inventory in the two major stainless steel markets of Wuxi and Foshan posted a slight inventory buildup, rising from 982,000 mt on March 19, 2026 to 984,100 mt on April 2, 2026, up 0.21% WoW. During the week, stainless steel futures were overall in the doldrums. Dragged down by futures moves, downstream end-users showed strong wait-and-see sentiment, and market inquiries and transactions were sluggish. Although the market was in the traditional peak consumption season, downstream just-in-time procurement was maintained, but amid disruptions from the macro environment, stainless steel prices lacked a clear direction. In the short term, transactions were heavily affected by changes in futures, and downstream end-users generally remained cautious, with little willingness to proactively stockpile, further constraining the pace of inventory digestion. Supply side, steel mills concentrated shipments to the market at month-end March, and arrivals were relatively large this week, directly driving the slight inventory buildup. Meanwhile, planned production at stainless steel mills remained generally high in April, and supply-side pressure persisted, posing a major challenge to inventory digestion. Coupled with continued macro perspective disruptions, rising market uncertainty further reinforced downstream caution, and stockpiling enthusiasm remained low throughout. Overall, this week's slight inventory buildup was mainly driven by the combined impact of concentrated steel mill shipments at month-end March, increased arrivals, weak futures, and insufficient willingness among downstream players to stockpile. At present, the high production schedule pace at steel mills has not changed significantly, and social inventory still faced substantial digestion pressure against the backdrop of high supply. Although the "Silver April" peak season provided some support to demand and just-in-time procurement kept the market basically stable, downstream caution was hard to reverse, making a sharp inventory drawdown difficult in the short term. Going forward, the key to inventory trends will still be closely tracking the release of real downstream demand, the direction of futures, and subsequent changes in the macro environment.

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] SS Futures Fluctuated Upward, Spot Stainless Steel Trading Sluggish Ahead of Qingming Festival SMM News on April 3: SS futures showed an upward fluctuation trend. SHFE nickel drove SS futures to stop falling and strengthen, closing at 14,235 yuan/mt as of the midday close. Spot market, although SS futures stopped falling and rebounded, the overall gains were limited, providing no obvious boost to the spot market; coupled with the approaching Qingming Festival holiday, overall market trading sentiment was sluggish, and traders' quotes were largely stable. The most-traded SS futures contract stopped falling and strengthened. At 10:15 a.m., SS2605 was quoted at 14,150 yuan/mt, up 40 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. Spot premiums for 304/2B in Wuxi were in the range of 270-470 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the average price of cold-rolled 201/2B coils in Wuxi was unchanged; for cold-rolled burr-edge 304/2B coils, the average price in Wuxi was unchanged, and the average price in Foshan was largely stable; cold-rolled 316L/2B coils in Wuxi were unchanged; for hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coils, Wuxi quotes were unchanged; cold-rolled 430/2B coils in both Wuxi and Foshan were largely stable. The stainless steel market is currently in the traditional peak consumption season of "Golden March and Silver April," and the fundamental downstream demand improved compared with the previous period. End-user procurement continued at a pace based on rigid demand, and overall trading volume was sufficient to support the market's basic vitality. However, affected by macro news disruptions and fluctuations in futures, downstream end-user clients still maintained a wait-and-see sentiment, showing no willingness to stockpile, and transactions fluctuated with changes in the news flow. Futures, the Iran geopolitical conflict is difficult to resolve in the short term, and uncertainty in macro news continues to cause disruptions...

Precious metal prices fluctuated in consolidation today, and the spot-futures price spread between TD and the most-traded SHFE silver contract showed no obvious change for the time being, while significant differences still existed in spot market quotations. In the Shanghai market, during the morning session, mainstream quotations from suppliers of standard silver ingots were at premiums of 60-80 yuan/kg against TD, or at premiums of 0-30 yuan/kg against the SHFE silver 2604 contract. Some smelters quoted cargoes self-picked up from production site at a premium of 50 yuan/kg against TD, but due to sluggish downstream consumption, actual transactions were sparse. The spot silver ingot market was quoted but saw little trading, with a strong holiday atmosphere.

[Worsening Supply Concerns and Gradual Demand Recovery Stabilize the Center of Aluminum Prices with Geopolitical Premiums ]Overall, the market's core focus in the period ahead is on whether key aluminum smelters in the Middle East will further expand production cuts. If the cuts continue to materialize, they will provide strong upward momentum for global aluminum prices, coupled with support from expectations of a gradual release of demand during China’s peak season. In the short term, aluminum prices are expected to remain in a high-level consolidation pattern.

[[Weekly Review of Aluminum Scrap and Secondary Aluminum]]Secondary Aluminum Market Consolidated at High Levels, Intensifying the Tug-of-War Between Cost Support and Weak Demand

This week, the price spread between the TD price on the Gold Exchange and the SHFE April contract did not continue to narrow, and the total quoted trading volume of circulating imported silver ingot cargoes in the market had already declined from March. Although many suppliers still held prices firm and were reluctant to sell due to costs and delivery intentions, among other reasons, downstream just-in-time procurement generally transacted at sharply lowered premiums after aggressive bargaining. Investment demand in the Shenzhen market was sluggish, and some suppliers dumped non-registered brand silver ingots at quotes on parity with TD or at slight discounts. Overall spot market transactions remained weak. As of Thursday, tradable quotes for standard silver ingots in the Shanghai market against TD premiums edged down to 60-80 yuan/kg, while a small number of end-users' small orders of less than 50 kg were still concluded at premiums of 80-100 yuan/kg. Some holders of standard silver ingots suspended quotations and intended to make delivery, while enthusiasm for stockpiling on dips did not improve, and sluggish spot market trading remained unchanged. Inventory side, spot market consumption did not improve this week. Downstream just-in-time procurement maintained aggressive bargaining, with transactions mainly concluded at lowered premiums. Many suppliers did not accept price cuts to sell cargoes, and mentioned increased delivery intentions next week, transferring silver ingot inventory from non-delivery warehouses to delivery warehouses. Social inventory of silver ingots posted a slight buildup.