In the short term, a stronger US dollar weighed on precious metals prices. Silver prices remained in the doldrums today; the spot-futures price spread between TD and the most-traded SHFE silver contract narrowed, and spot premiums still showed signs of further declines. In Shanghai, suppliers of national-standard silver ingots lowered their premiums over TD to quotes of 900-1,100 yuan/kg, but mainstream bulk deals were concentrated at TD+900-1,000 yuan/kg. High-premium quotes saw only small volumes of less than 1 mt, yet trading volume remained moderate. In some regions, cargoes self-picked up from production site at smelters were quoted at premiums of 850-1,000 yuan/kg over TD and were concluded on rigid demand. Quoted prices for silver ingots in the market still varied significantly, with large differences across different deal sizes and brands. After silver prices weakened, downstream buyers feared further declines and purchased cautiously, staying on the sidelines; deals were generally concluded after negotiating and adjusting prices with suppliers, and market trading turned slightly quieter.

[SMM Chromium Daily Review: Quotes Continued to Rise, Strong Willingness to Hold Prices Firm] News on March 5, 2026: Today, the ex-factory price of high-carbon ferrochrome in Inner Mongolia rose by 50 yuan/mt (50% metal content) MoM from the previous trading day...

[SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review: Rare Earth Prices Pulled Back, Strong Wait-and-See Sentiment Downstream] Affected by news-related factors, the Pr-Nd oxide market saw heightened wait-and-see sentiment among downstream metal plants, and some traders proactively cut prices to boost shipments. As of today, Pr-Nd oxide prices had pulled back to 845,000-850,000 yuan/mt.

SMM, March 5: In early trading, SHFE aluminum 2602 fluctuated upward, with the price center higher than the previous trading day. Affected by the US-Iran conflict, aluminum prices continued to rise. Impacted by high aluminum prices today, buying sentiment declined while selling sentiment increased. The spot-futures price spread was currently relatively strong, and some traders were still purchasing for hedging. Bullish sentiment was strong in the market, and sellers held prices firm. Today’s mainstream transaction prices were from the average price to +10 yuan/mt. Today, the east China market shipments sentiment index was 2.98, up 0.3 MoM; the purchasing sentiment index was 2.96, down 0.23 MoM. Geopolitical conflict affected Aluminum Bahrain’s shipments, intensifying sentiment of financial constraints. Traders in the central China market remained bullish. Although downstream processing enterprises were constrained by weaker-than-expected orders and inventories not yet fully depleted, resulting in relatively weak purchasing sentiment, traders’ purchases boosted overall market transactions, and premiums remained relatively firm. Ultimately, actual transaction prices in the central China market ranged from central China price +10 yuan to central China price -30 yuan, with mainstream transaction prices concentrated at central China price -10 yuan to -20 yuan. Today, the central China market shipments sentiment index was 2.77, up 0.07 MoM; the purchasing sentiment index was 2.4, up 0.08 MoM. Inventory side, aluminum ingot inventory in major consumption areas increased 13,000 mt MoM today. Affected by seasonality, all three regions saw inventory buildup. In the short term, after the Chinese New Year, aluminum ingots continued to see seasonal inventory buildup. Affected by bullish sentiment, premiums are expected to remain on a narrowing trend.

[SMM Daily Review: Back-and-Forth Negotiations Between Upstream and Downstream Continued; Tight Supply of High Nickel Unit Cargoes Sustained Premiums] News on March 5: The upstream sentiment factor for SMM high-grade NPI was 2.88, up 0.01 MoM, while the downstream sentiment factor for high-grade NPI was 1.37, up 0.05 MoM.

SMM Morning Meeting Minutes: Overnight, LME copper opened at $13,146/mt and hit an early high of $13,153/mt. Thereafter, the center of copper prices gradually moved lower, dipping to $12,975/mt near the close, and finally settled at $13,027.5/mt, up 0.49%. Trading volume rose to 25,000 lots, and open interest to 306,000 lots, down 1,096 lots from the previous trading day, mainly due to bears reducing positions. Overnight, the most-traded SHFE copper 2604 contract opened at 101,640 yuan/mt and climbed early to 102,080 yuan/mt, then fluctuated downward to a low of 101,200 yuan/mt, followed by wide swings, and finally settled at 101,700 yuan/mt, up 0.45%. Trading volume rose to 44,800 lots, and open interest to 195,000 lots, down 213 lots from the previous trading day, mainly due to bears reducing positions.

This week, ternary cathode precursor prices declined slightly. Raw materials, nickel sulphate prices edged up today, cobalt sulphate prices declined again, and manganese sulphate prices held steady.

Influenced by the Iran incident, gold prices gapped up at the opening of the Asian market yesterday (2nd), according to a report from HSBC Global Research. It is believed that rising oil prices pushed up gold prices, with the premium on the Shanghai Gold Exchange turning positive and reaching USD10 per ounce.

[SMM Lead Morning Meeting Minutes: Bullish and Bearish Factors Coexisted in Domestic and Overseas Markets; Lead Prices Were Expected to Remain Consolidated] US Treasury Secretary Bessent: A 15% global tariff might be implemented this week, pledged to safeguard the Persian Gulf, and hinted that more measures were forthcoming. Recently, lead-acid battery enterprises in the domestic market basically resumed production, and the overall operating rate in March rebounded sharply from February…

Platinum prices stopped falling and rebounded, with the most-traded PT2606 platinum futures contract on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange up 1.34% in early trading, closing at 567.9 yuan/gram. In the spot market, spot platinum prices against PT2606 were quoted at discounts of 10-13 yuan/gram, or at discounts of 1-4 yuan/gram against the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s Sell 1. Spot discounts widened slightly from the previous trading day. As for spot transactions, according to SMM, some traders holding cargo said that quotes at around a 10 yuan/gram discount to the June contract were difficult to conclude, and discounts needed to be lowered to above 12 yuan/gram. End-users made just-in-time procurement, and the spot market was still dominated by small-lot transactions, with overall trading normal.