It was a positive start for the market as prices quickly pushed beyond yesterday’s 19.71 high mark and extended the gains up to 19.78 through the first hour, although scale selling was slowing the pace of progress. Having stalled there was some day trader selling / liquidation which sent the market back down into the 19.60’s where values were able to consolidate quietly for the rest of the morning. The arrival of Americas traders led to some increased volatility through the early afternoon within the same general range, and while this led to new daily lows at 19.55 it contributed nothing more to any longer-term scenarios. As March’25 continued to pivot around the upper 19.60’s the only noteworthy movement was coming from the March’25 spreads where buyers were pushing the value up to the highest levels since early November as March/May’25 extended into the 1.60’s. With the index roll getting underway on Friday some more spread selling will appear, however as hedge funds are positioned from the other side the impact on price may not be overly significant. Having sat resolutely within the range the market found supportive buying through the closing stages which took March’25 back within a point of the morning high and ensured a higher settlement at 19.76, with the spread closing at 1.63 points and ensuring the positive sentiment continues.
The market saw little price movement during early trading and while there was a small push up to $513.80 for May’25 the mood was more subdued than yesterday with prices drifting quietly throughout the rest of the morning. As so often the aimless drift took prices a little lower with May’25 easing back towards $508.00 by noon although with no meaningful selling emerging that proved to be the extent of the fall with range bound trading then developing ahead of this level into the early afternoon. The March/May’25 spread continued to see strong activity as rolling from both specs and hedgers continues ahead of next weeks expiry and pushed back up to $18.90 at one stage though softened again towards $15.00 during the afternoon. Outright values meanwhile made various moves to the $512.00 area without ever threatening to challenge the morning high as a quiet session played out, though having made another new recent high the day still classified as a solid showing. MOC buying arrived to ensure that May’25 closed a touch higher at $512.10 and maintain technical momentum, with the firm picture also maintained by closing values for the March/May’25 spread at $16.20 and the May/May’25 white premium at $112.40.
