buying.
Look-alike products traded for volume at prices at or near levels seen on Monday, with Q1 2011 trading as high as $67.50/st, 10 cents below Platts' prior assessment, before losses accelerated into the close of trade.
Market sources said prices in the look-alike market adjusted lower in the New York afternoon following a series of spread trades in 2011 quarterly contracts. Wider differentials, trading for size, pushed term prices lower.
CSX and PRB 8,800 product prices marked gains, driven higher by physical trades in the front-month, December 2010 contract, and for CSX, in longer-dated CSX swap spreads over NYMEX look-alike.
Front-month look-alike contracts were quiet on Tuesday, with trader interest focused within 2011. Q1 2011 traded at $67.50/st for five barges twice, and at $67.25/st for five barges twice. Later in the session, the term traded in a spread over Q2 2011 at $1.60/st for five barges three times. All
outright trades priced below Platts' Monday assessment of $67.60/st, with the bid/ask continuing to walk lower late-session Tuesday. The prior implied Q1 over Q2 discount stood at $1.40/st, indicating a widening differential.
Q2 2011 failed to trade outright, but moved in a spread trade over Q3 2011 at a discount of $1.60/st for size, 25 barges. The prior Platts implied differential stood at $1.45/st on Monday, with Tuesday's spread widening much like that seen in the Q1 over Q2 trade.
The Q4 2011 contract also traded for volume, at $71.75/st for 20 barges. Q4 last traded on November 5, at the same price point, $71.75/st.
Rail-delivered coal products were in demand on Tuesday. Norfolk Southern 12,500-Btu/lb 1% physical traded in the Q2 2011 term at $68.70/st for the delivery of one train/month.
In the CSX physical market, December 2010 traded once at $67.50/st for the delivery of one train. The contract traded 25 cents higher than prices seen on Monday, and 25 cents higher than the prior Platts assessment of $67.25/st.
CSX Q2 2011 swaps traded in two spreads, over Q2 2011 NYMEX look-alike at a premium of $1.45/st and $1.40/st. The underlying volume of the trades stood at 5,000 st over five barges in each transaction.
Western rail markets returned to action for the first time in four sessions. PRB 8,800 physical traded twice in the December 2010 contract at $13.05/st, each for the delivery of one train. The trade priced 5 cents higher than the prior Platts assessment.
PRB 8,800 physical also traded in the front-half 2011 term at $13.60/st for the delivery of two trains/month.
