The weekly Davis Index for secondary lead ingot in Mumbai settled at Rs152,250/mt ($2,080/mt), up by Rs3,028/mt on the back of robust demand. Offers rose in the city despite LME trending downwards. The official three-month LME contract settled at $1,984.5/mt, down by $74/mt in a week.
The weekly Davis Index for lead batteries (drained) Wednesday settled at Rs89,944/mt del Mumbai consumer, up by Rs694/mt as trading went up marginally from the prior week. Smelters received strong demand from battery makers and telecom companies.
Markets in Mumbai strengthened in terms of spreads. The spread for secondary lead ingot index widened by 5.71pc with the index gaining over 2pc from the prior week. The index for lead batteries (drained) also strengthened with spreads contracting by 2.65pc and the index increasing marginally up by 0.78pc in the same period.
The weekly index for secondary lead ingot in Delhi was up by Rs278/mt to Rs152,000/mt ex-works producer from the prior week levels. Lead ingot prices in the past week has moved in a narrow range of Rs150,000-152,000/mt in Delhi.
The weekly Index for lead batteries (drained) in Delhi settled at Rs87,500/mt del consumer, down by Rs2,167/mt amid over supply of battery scrap. Some smelters were able to procure battery scrap at Rs1,000/mt less than the index price and market levels.
Delhi market for lead grades strengthened in terms of spread. The index for Delhi secondary lead ingot rose marginally by 0.18pc and the spread for the index widened by 3.88pc from the prior week. The spread for Delhi battery scarp index narrowed by 0.68pc despite a fall of 2.42pc in the index, depicting a strengthened market for the grade.
Demand for secondary lead ingot is likely to increase in the coming months with downstream manufacturers gearing up for sturdy seasonal demand for inverters ahead of summer. Meanwhile, LME lead is trending downwards for five-straight sessions. This dip in LME may result in global secondary ingot and domestic prices to backtrack in the coming weeks.
($1=Rs73.17)