EU carbon prices barely budged on Wednesday in a session that traders said lacked direction amid light holiday volume.

The Dec-15 futures ended 2 cents higher at €7.17 on ICE after trading at a maximum of €7.21 on thin turnover of around 7 million.

The benchmark carbon contract matched the previous day’s support level of €7.09, which is also the 50-day and 100-day moving average.

Traders expect lower volume and volatility this week before some return to their desks from the Easter holiday period.

“It’s very quiet this week, which is a bit strange as last year April has been our busiest month along with March, so I do expect it to pick up next week,” said one dealer.

German dark spreads were little changed and near their 2015 highs, maintaining a support signal for carbon by encouraging power generators to sell more electricity forward.

Meanwhile, the UK’s auction of 1.68 million EUAAs cleared at 30 cents below market, a much larger discount than the 17 cent level recorded at the previous aviation allowance sale in March.

“(The discount) has been -20/-15 cents most of the time this year… I expect today’s auction to be an exception rather than a new normal level,” the trader added.

By Ben Garside – ben@carbon-pulse.com