Overnight, LME zinc opened at $2,703/mt. At the beginning of the session, LME zinc briefly dipped to $2,696/mt.

On June 26, the SMM LME Asia Week- Global Metals and New Energy Market Outlook and Supply Trends wrapped up in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China!

Overnight, LME copper opened at $9,817/mt, with the initial session low at $9,729.5/mt. It then climbed steadily, reaching a session high of $9,912.5/mt by the end of the trading session, before slightly fluctuating and finally closing at $9,852/mt, with a gain of 1.98%. Trading volume reached 24,000 lots, and open interest reached 326,000 lots.

Overnight, LME lead opened at $2,201/mt.

At the beginning of last week, new policies were introduced in China’s real estate sector, and favorable policies for the housing market pushed up SHFE base metals prices, with the most-traded SHFE copper contract touching a high of 85,880 yuan/mt. On Thursday, SHFE base metals prices declined.

On Monday May 27, the LME closed for the Spring Bank Holiday. Key macroeconomic data include the revised US Q1 real GDP annualised rate, the annualised US April core PCE price index, the eurozone April unemployment rate, and China's May official manufacturing PMI.

Last week, zinc prices surged and then fell back. On the macroeconomic front, the hawkish remarks in the US Fed's May meeting minutes suppressed market expectations for rate cuts, causing both SHFE and LME base metals prices to decline.

The key data due this week include the US unseasonally adjusted annualised CPI in March, seasonally adjusted CPI in March, annualised PPI in March, and one-year inflation rate expectations in April. The minutes of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting and overseas geopolitical risks will also be a market focus.

This week, China’s “Two Sessions” will end, while the US election is still underway. In terms of macro data, the key data due this week include the US non-seasonally adjusted annualised CPI rate in February, the monthly seasonally adjusted CPI rate in February, the monthly retail sales rate in February, the annualised PPI in February, and the one-year inflation rate expectation in March.

As the nickel price at LME market has significantly decreased by nearly half over the last 13 months, global nickel producers are facing huge challenges now. Most recently, Wyloo Metals and BHP in Australia announced to shut down some capacity due to the falling prices, respectively. Although weak demand is one of problems, many market participants believe the booming of Indonesian nickel industry is the key driver for oversupply.