Buoyed by the more positive showing yesterday afternoon the market got off to a steady start with highs seen at 19.38 during the morning before Jul’22 eased back slightly to sit near to 19.30 for a few hours. The macro was proving mildly positive however there was no continuation of the upward progress, and this seemed to draw out a little long liquidation with a move back down through the teens early on the afternoon. Volume was very light throughout and with few resting orders in place within this week’s range prices continued to swing around through the afternoon after another push upward to 19.40 failed to sustain. Spread volumes were low as Jul/Oct’22 slipped to -0.10 points while May’22 was well watched as it headed toward tonight’s expiration. Here there was an incredibly sharp fall for open interest yesterday to stand at just 4,166 lots (-17,610 lots) with todays volume expected to potentially reduce this further. The latter part of the day saw some pre-weekend liquidation lead Jul’22 back to the lower end of the range, settling at 19.15 in an unconvincing close which likely leaves us maintaining the band either side of 19c for the near term.
Monday sees a late opening at 7:30am (NY) – 12:30pm (UK) due to the UK bank holiday.
May’22 expired at 19.35 with the May/Jul’22 settling at 0.20 points. Just 3,573 lots (181,517t) have been tendered with formal details to be published by the exchange on Monday.
