Daily Market Price Updates and Commentary 19th May 2026

It was a slow start to the day as early trading saw Jul’26 maintain near to last night’s closing value, but when the first stone was cast soon after by the day traders it was from the long side. Their efforts yielded quick results in the thin environment with the price pushed ahead to 14.94 across the next hour before progress slowed when some more tangible selling stated to appear ahead of 15.00. Still the play remained positive and by late morning there was fresh ground being broken with the move to 15.00 finally being made and highs achieved at 15.05. Grower pricing was moderate, but still sufficient in quantity to cap the market wit the failure to work any higher drawing a return to the 14.80’s against profit taking during the afternoon. Smaller specs were undeterred by this however and the rest of the session continued to see upside probing and eventual daily highs at 15.13 during the final hour as the longs looked to paint a positive picture on which to end the session. MOC risk reduction meant a closing value at 15.01 which ends the run of 3 consecutive downward sessions though changes nothing in terms of the overall picture. 

Aug’26 was pushed down to $433.80 during the first ten minutes, but with No.11 not falling some support soon began to manifest and it was not long before the market moved back up to erase these losses. A slow morning then ensued in which buyers gradually edged the price higher without showing any real desire to drive back up towards last weeks highs, very much a case of accepting the rangebound status quo while hoping to make a small turn against day trades. This activity did gather a little more pace with an early afternoon spike to $445.70 ahead of position liquidation / profit taking, with the picture then calming to hold the lower $440’s. Nearby spreads saw moderate interest through the day but little price movement with Aug/Oct’26 maintaining near to even money, while the Aug/Jul’26 white premium was only thinly traded as it worked wither side of last night’s value on the flat price swings. More interest did arrive during the final hour as increase buying enable Aug’26 to reach a high at $446.60, but it came at a cost with late position liquidation erasing a large chunk of the daily gain. This left Aug’26 settling at $441.00, and despite the buyers’ efforts through the day we remain some distance from this months highs.