At midday close, China's lead futures contracts were mostly higher. SC crude and
fuel oil rose about 4%; low-sulfur fuel oil (LU) gained over 3%. Plastics and
monthly-average plastics were up nearly 2%; styrene (EB), pulp and liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) advanced more than 1%. On the downside, lithium carbonate
and container freight to Europe fell over 5%; Shanghai silver dropped nearly 3%;
cotton and palladium fell more than 2%; rapeseed was down about 2%; cotton yarn
and platinum declined just over 1%.