Nonferrous metals futures traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) ended higher on Thursday as investors expected China's state stockpiling agency to buy some metals for state reserves.
Media reports said that the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA) recently suggested to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, that the government should buy aluminum, nickel, cobalt, and indium metals to digest the excessive output.
Meanwhile, Jiangxi Copper (600362.SH; 0358.HK) and Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group (000630.SZ) planned to hold a meeting in Shanghai on Saturday to discuss how to cope with the six-year low of copper prices, media reported. Some media reports said that the CNIA suggested that the authorities should buy 900,000 metric tons (tonnes) of aluminum, 30,000 tonnes of refined nickel, 40 tonnes of indium, and 400,000 tonnes of zinc.
Earlier, major zinc smelters in China launched an initiative to cut refined zinc output in 2016 by 500,000 tonnes, equivalent to nearly 10 percent of the country's annual output. On Thursday, the SHFE benchmark copper, aluminum, zinc, lead, nickel and tin closed up 2.09 percent, 4.00 percent, 2.58 percent, 2.36 percent, 5.73 percent and 1.96 percent, respectively.
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