Quiet day for the carbon market

The European power spot pruces continued to increase yesterday, supported by the wind shortage despite a weaker demand expected today and slightly lower clean gas costs. The day-ahead prices averaged 360.03€/MWh in Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, +20.72€/MWh day-on-day.

The carbon prices remained overall stable on Thursday, quickly recovering from the day’s low of 63.49€/t and remaining above their 200-day moving average with low exchanged volumes compared to the two previous days despite the volatile fuels and power markets. The EUA Dec.22 eventually closed at 67.35€/t, -1.14€/t from Wednesday’s settlement. The limited retracement seen yesterday suggests that the recent massive sell-off might have come to an end. The falling equities could pressure the emissions prices, but with most of the speculators now out the market we expect their correlation with the financial markets to be significantly weaker.

In the power market, the forward posted further hefty gains despite a retreat of gas prices as reports emerged that Russia was open to start negotiations.