The Platts Australian alumina daily assessment continued at $248.50/mt FOB on Monday, unchanged from Thursday last week, as spot activity remained limited amid the holiday lull.
There was no assessment on Friday as many markets were closed for Good Friday.
The UK market remained closed Monday and will resume on Tuesday. The China market will be closed next Monday for the Qingming festival.
"There are people eying ingot prices for alumina direction, and London is off today [Monday], so we need to wait and see how metal prices move when the market returns tomorrow [Tuesday]," a source from a Henan smelter said.
Two Beijing traders agreed, saying that no offers or trades were heard Monday. Chinese import interest has also slowed with a halt in the recent uptrend in domestic alumina prices.
The bid-ask spread was pegged at $246-250/mt FOB basis Monday, market participants said.
In China, the Platts ex-works Shanxi alumina spot assessment was rangebound Monday at Yuan 1,910/mt ($293) full cash terms, flat week on week, but up Yuan 80/mt from a month ago.
Activity in the domestic spot alumina market was also thin ahead of April talks, which were due to start this week or next, sources said.
"Everyone is waiting for new direction ... but we doubt prices will change much until after the Qingming holiday next week, as no one is rushing to buy or sell," a refinery trader said.
In Henan province, spot alumina was pegged at Yuan 1,950/mt cash to partial credit terms, with Guangxi spot prices rangebound at Yuan 1,800/mt cash.
Meanwhile, the price of spot alumina is expected to rise in the near term despite the current lull as domestic metal prices stay firm, refiners, smelters and traders said.
On Monday, the front-month aluminum contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed at Yuan 11,700 mt, up from Yuan 11,450/mt last week, and also from Yuan 11,225/mt a month ago.
