Trading commenced with side of unchanged though it was not long before the market slipped with a dip back down towards 25c as some light selling emerged. This was to be expected following the latest in a series of meteoric price rises yesterday, though once the initial selling had concluded things soon settled with the market calmly consolidating within the early range. Jul’23 was particularly calm during the morning with May’23 finding a little more movement as the May/Jul’23 spread found some pre-expiry buying to widen beyond 0.65 points. It has been the afternoon that has brought the large movements recently however there was no sign of the same interest as we continued through todays session with Jul’23 continuing to see slow trading between 25.00/25.30. Buyers remained quiet until the final hour or so, when they moved to bring the market away from 25.20 and back into credit as they looked to maintain a positive gloss to proceedings. Whether by accident or design, this move to new highs triggered yet another wild chase from the long side that accelerated prices higher to yet another set of new contract highs with sellers seemingly more scare than ever. Unbelievably given that all the action took place through the final hour we registered highs at 26.87 for May’23 and 26.22 for Jul’23, both at least 0.90 points above last nights settlement values to mark gains of 2.00 points for the week to date at the front of the board. There was still time for some profit taking to kick in ahead of the close to leave Jul’23 settling at 25.97, bringing another incredibly strong technical showing to a conclusion as the squeeze continues.
Following a couple of less enthusiastic performances (relatively so when compared next to the No.11) the market started today in a similar vein with Aug’23 tracking back into the mid $680’s and the Aug/Jul’23 white premium slipping towards $127.00. Buying enthusiasm has lessened recently however there remains sufficient interest to support values (aided by a complete lack of selling interest) and so for several hour prices simply edged along in the $680’s. The picture only started to change during the middle of the afternoon with some fresh enthusiasm taking Aug’23 back into credit and building momentum to be challenging the contract highs as Aug’23 reached $695.80, and in the process taking Aug/Jul’23 back to $140.00, the No.11 now unexpectedly lagging. That situation then took another twist as No.11 once again began to surge. On this occasion whites also found fresh buying to surge beyond $700 and record a new lifetime high for Aug’23 at $711.30 before slipping back on pre-close profit taking from jobbers. This was an impressive pace, though unbelievably it could not compete with the raws and so the premium narrowed back in to $132.00, a wild daily movement. Settlement was made at an impressive $705.10 for Jul’23, and after such a strong technical finish who would bet additional upward movement with usual factors such as overbought indicators having no relevance at the present time.
