The day began slowly with Oct’22 chopping about in the 17.90’s on low volumes, still struggling to find the buying/momentum necessary to mount a sustainable move above 18.00. Specs appear to be caught in a conundrum at present, reluctant to close shorts / turn back long against the current physical picture but equally not wanting to further add to their positions given the level of consumer pricing placed nearer to 17.00, and so the status quo is likely here for a while. Efforts around noon to push upward ended shy of yesterdays highs at 18.07, while to the other side new lows were recorded during the afternoon at 17,75 on day trader liquidation before working back to the range once more. A second attempt above 18.00 saw the earlier 18.07 high matched before pulling back once more, bringing another tedious low volume session to a conclusion only marginally higher as Oct’22 settled at 17.98
Another choppy opening period saw Oct’22 trading across a $7.50 range during the first 30 minutes before settling down to sit quietly at the lower end. The calm lasted for a couple of hours but with liquidity still thin it was then broken by a push back upward to $549.00 with spec longs remaining determined to continue the recent recovery and re-challenge the series of overhead highs at $554.90 / $564.40 / $570.10. Though this movement aided the white premium values the higher levels remain tricky to maintain given the lack of trade/consumer activity and so a decline took place back down through the range to be sitting in the red once more by early afternoon. A delve down to $540.00 followed as the afternoon wore on but it gathered no momentum and the latest in a set of slow summer days played out within the range until close. Oct’22 ultimately settled a touch lower, concluding an inside day at $542.60, with the Oct/Dec’22 also weaker at $28.30 as the quiet conditions extend into another day.
