Aluminum declines after record spike on Russia supply fears

Aluminum gave up the gains after Thursday’s record surge, with the London Metal Exchange’s plan to discuss a potential ban on Russian metal exacerbating supply concerns while stimulus measures in China bolstered the demand outlook.

Aluminum slipped as much as 2.7 per cent, the most in a week, following a record 8.5 per cent intraday gain the prior session after Bloomberg reported the bourse plans to launch a discussion paper on whether and under what circumstances it should block new supplies of Russian metal from being delivered to its network of warehouses.

Most other metals pared early gains on Friday, with zinc gaining as China stepped up measures to support its embattled property sector. The People’s Bank of China and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission recently told the country’s six largest banks to each offer at least 100 billion yuan (US$14 billion) of financing support in any form including mortgages, loans to developers and purchases of their bonds, people familiar with the matter said.

Any move by the LME to block Russian supplies could have significant ramifications for the global metals markets, as the country is also a major producer of vital materials including nickel and copper.