Opening buying saw May’23 touch to 20.62, and though prices set back soon afterwards with buyers not yet testing the new contract highs there was an air of comfort about the way in which prices held near to 20.50. The market remained flat into the early afternoon, however when the anticipated spec/fund buying failed to materialise it was a familiar scenario that played out with selling kicking in to send the market back down through the range yet again. The yo-yo action has been rather volatile in recent days, so the bulls will have taken some comfort that the fall bottomed out at 20.20 and did not wipe out all of yesterdays efforts, instead allowing for another period of quiet consolidation from which it can potentially re-gather. There was only slight movement for the nearby spreads with May/Jul’23 continuing in the mid 0.50’s for much of the day, a more positive showing than recently given the lower outright prices. Efforts to pull the market back upward were ineffective and ended in the 20.30’s, leading to a calm conclusion which saw May’23 settling at 20.31, still reasonably well situated despite having lost a little momentum.
A subdued opening saw prices holding a small way beneath last night’s settlement values, and so it was with some surprise that an aggressive burst of buying sent May’23 spiking to a new contract high mark of $580.00 midway through the morning. This buying sent the May/Aug’23 spread roaring to $16.10 and briefly valued the May/May’23 white premium at almost $127.00, however with no follow-on buying interest the market soon started to edge back lower with the decline reflected straight back into the spreads and arbs. By early afternoon, the market was matching the early lows, and with No.11 now under pressure a nudge into new daily ground triggered some long liquidation and a move to the upper $560’s. Unlike the recent moves that have seen prices move up and down in straight lines there was some support being found which looked to arrest the slide, but despite a rally back up to $574.50 the specs could not be drawn back in and so leaving the market caught on the lower $570’s. The latter stages remained quiet, and the day ended with May’23 at $572.80.
