LME Introduces Commitment of Traders Report for Base Metals

The Financial Times reported that in response to market participants’ requests for greater disclosure of data, the London Metal Exchange (LME) has introduced a Commitment of Traders report “that details long and short positioning in industrial metals” like zinc.

Zinc has risen 17 percent in the last three months, largely due to concerns about falling mine supply and lower warehouse stocks.

As quoted in the market news:

Figures from the exchange’s Commitment of Traders Report, published for the first time on Tuesday, shows money managers held a long position of nearly 135,900 futures contracts in zinc as of August 1 – nearly 30 per cent of open interest, or total number of outstanding contracts.

The equivalent open interest figures for copper and aluminium were 24 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively.

In Nickel, the best performing metal on the LME this year, long positions held by money managers – a category that includes hedge funds – as a percentage of open interest was 23.5 per cent.

Click here to read the full Financial Times report.