Opening prints within a couple of points of unchanged for both Oct’22 and March’23 were not maintained as the early part of the session saw a retracement of yesterday’s gains with March’23 slipping down into the lower 17.80’s. A quiet morning then ensued for the flat price with activities dominated by the Oct’22/March’23 spread, where buyers were once again pushing the differential out to new highs with a lack of selling contributing to a rally which reached 0.64 within a couple of hours. A further spike up to 0.71 points followed early in the afternoon, a remarkable showing, though the squeeze was then halted as selling emerged to send the price all the way back to 0.53 points. This retracement coincided with a flat price correction, following the macro trend with smaller traders hitting the short side and sending March’23 back towards 17.50. The decline eventually bottomed out at 17.45 with some increased consumer scale interest starting to be seen as we moved closer to recent lows and triggering a short covering bounce back into the range. With the market lower there naturally continues to be no significant interest from producers, movement for USDBRL back to the 5.24 area insufficient to rouse any interest. Closing activity remained comfortably within the range to send us into the weekend quietly, with the likely path seeming to be continuing broadly sideways within the range as we approach next Friday’s Oct’22 expiry.
Opening selling pushed values down by a few dollars where a sideways pattern soon established, Dec’22 holding near to $533.00 throughout the morning. There was weakness showing across the wider commodity macro however the whites were showing no real interest in joining the move despite the red showing on the screen, with consolidation maintained through the early afternoon. Prices did then come under some renewed pressure; selling being inspired by the No.11 sending Dec’22 to a low at $528.10 which was still some $10 above the lows seen on Wednesday. With the market now sitting comfortably within yesterday’s massive range thins remained calm, only some short covering taking place in the flat price, although spreads were providing a degree of interest as Dec’22/March’23 built upon yesterdays showing and further strengthened to $36.90. The final part of the week played out comfortably within the range bringing an uneventful inside day to a close, though the spread remained firm at $35.40 suggesting that whites remain reluctant to head too much lower at the present time.
