The Platts Australian alumina daily assessment was unchanged from Friday but down 50 cents/mt from the week before, at $249/mt FOB Monday.
Spot trade was thin as the market awaited new direction from India Hindalco's latest spot sell tender offering 30,000 mt for May. It is due to close at the end of India trading Monday, sources said.
The market was also waiting for Chinese participants to return from their holiday. China was closed Monday for the Qingming Festival.
"The market seems like it's in thin air now ... looking for direction. So it's waiting for the Hindalco tender and also to see if the Chinese will buy when they return," a Western trader said.
"The Chinese are quite sufficient on their own, so we doubt there will be much demand from them in the near term. Traders are probably also facing financial constraint and are not in positions to offer much credit terms, but we'll see," said an Asian consumer source who sees alumina prices likely trending down in the near term.
A second Western trader, meanwhile, said he was offering late-April to May cargoes currently at $250-$251/mt FOB, pegging buy indications from the Chinese at $245-$248/mt.
"But nothing has been done yet, we'll have to wait for the Chinese to come back," he said.
The Platts ex-works Shanxi alumina spot assessment closed at Yuan 1,920/mt ($297/mt) full cash terms on Friday, reflecting a gain of Yuan 10 on the week and Yuan 60 on the month.
On Monday, Platts assessed the Handysize freight rate at $8.85/mt for a 30,000-mt shipment in May from Western Australia to Lianyungang, unchanged from Friday, April 1.
