Copper, Aluminum, Zinc Lead Base Metals Higher in Shanghai Night Session; Nickel Slips

The broad-based gains across Shanghai's base metals complex, with zinc and tin leading, point to a session driven by macro sentiment or currency moves rather than any single metal's fundamentals, since such a wide spread of contracts rarely moves together on idiosyncratic news. Nickel and stainless steel diverging lower is the notable exception, hinting at pressure specific to the nickel chain even as the rest of the complex firms. Whether that nickel weakness persists against a firmer copper, aluminum and zinc backdrop is the open question.