A months-long rally in China’s commodity futures may be coming to an end after the country’s exchanges took steps to crack down on speculative trading.
中国大宗商品期货持续数月的上涨可能趋于结束,此前中国各交易所采取了打击投机性交易的措施。
Futures for coal and iron ore that rallied sharply this year have gyrated this week following a dramatic rout on Friday evening after China’s three commodity exchanges increased margin requirements.
今年大幅上涨的煤炭和铁矿石期货在上周五暴跌后,本周剧烈波动,此前中国3家大宗商品交易所提高了保证金要求。
“It ran up too much and the increased margin requirements by the exchanges are starting to bite,” said a trader at one house that has taken big bets on commodities futures this year.
一位交易员表示:“它涨的太多了,而交易所提高保证金要求开始产生影响。”该交易员所在的公司今年大举押注大宗商品期货。
Iron ore futures on the Dalian exchange dropped by more than 6 per cent to Rmb562 a tonne on Wednesday, although they are still up 75 per cent since the start of the year.
大连交易所的铁矿石期货周三下跌逾6%,至每吨562元人民币,不过与年初相比仍上涨了75%,
That helped push down shares of Australian miners Fortescue Metals Group, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. Front-month steel futures in Shanghai fell by more than 3 per cent.
这进而压低了澳大利亚矿商Fortescue Metals Group、力拓(Rio Tinto)和必和必拓(BHP Billiton)的股价。上海的即月钢铁期货下跌逾3%。
Benchmark Australian iron ore prices delivered to China have fallen almost 10 per cent since the start of the week to $72.2 a tonne.
发往中国的基准澳大利亚铁矿石价格自本周初以来下跌近10%,至每吨72.2美元。
“People think it’s hard to sustain such high prices,” said Chen Yan, deputy general manager of Steelhome, a steel market consultancy in Shanghai. “This is a normal market correction.”
上海钢铁市场咨询公司钢之家(Steelhome)副总经理陈艳表示:“人们认为很难维持如此高的价格。这是正常的市场回调。”
Those supply shortages drove trading in the rest of the “ferrous complex” related to steel such as iron ore, which reached a 33-month high on Monday.
供应短缺推动了铁矿石等其他铁相关期货的交易。周一交易量达到33个月的高点。
The spring rally ended in a similar fashion in April after the exchanges moved to make trading more expensive.
今年4月,在交易所采取措施提高交易手续费之后,春季的大宗商品上涨以类似方式结束。
While the rallies have been backed by supply cuts they have also been fuelled by excess liquidity in China, in part due to margin lending, where investors borrow money to buy securities. Funds in China relied on margin lending to fuel a rise in Shanghai stocks in the first half of 2015.
尽管大宗商品上涨受到供应下降的支持,但中国过多的流动性也在推波助澜,这在一定程度上可归因于保证金贷款——让投资者借钱购买证券产品。中国的基金公司在2015年上半年依赖保证金贷款助燃了上海股市的上涨。
Investor money has not limited itself to bets on the futures exchanges, however. Humble garlic is also up sharply this year.
然而,投资者不仅仅将资金投到期货交易所。今年不显眼的大蒜价格也大幅上涨。