LME stocks: aluminium -2,200t, copper +500t, zinc flat, tin -50t, lead -3,300t, nickel +198t

The headline numbers are small in absolute terms, so the signal is in direction rather than size: drawdowns in aluminium, lead and tin sit alongside modest builds in copper and nickel, a mixed picture rather than a single restocking or destocking trend. Lead's decline is the largest of the session and the one most worth monitoring, given how thin lead flows can be. Whether these movements extend into a sustained trend or reverse next session is the open question, and the flat zinc print offers no read either way.