(Updated with market close, CER price rise)

EU carbon prices dipped for a fourth straight day on Friday, ending the shortened trading week some 2% below last Thursday’s settlement.

The benchmark futures closed down 1 cent at €7.04 on volume of more than 17 million units traded on ICE Futures Europe – well above this week’s daily average.  Volumes have been low and trading ranges narrow due to this week’s Easter holidays across Europe.

A further 6.4 million units changed hands on the bourse’s daily EUA futures on Friday, a figure exponentially higher than the daily average seen so far this year.

Prices fell below €7 for the first time in six sessions after Germany’s sale of 3.2 million spot EUAs cleared 4 cents below market.

The German auction cleared at €6.96 with a relatively low bid-to-cover ratio of 1.83.

Following the sale, the Dec-15s dropped to as low as €6.91, the contract’s middle Bollinger band line (20-day MA) and a level not seen since April 1.

They clawed back throughout the day, but failed to close back above the 50- and 100-day moving averages, which had been acting as technical support for the futures all week.

EUAs have been under bearish pressure over the past few days due to firmer coal prices mixed with a falling euro, which together squeezed the German clean dark spreads, which had be near 2015 highs this week.

Meanwhile, CERs continued their march higher, albeit on light volumes.

ICE’s daily CER futures added 2 cents on volume of 3,000 units to close at 55 cents – a level not seen since last October – while the benchmark Dec-15 contract rose 3 cents to settle at 53 cents on less than 400,000 credits traded.

The Dec-15 CER futures are now up 10 cents or 23% for the month.

By Mike Szabo – mike@carbon-pulse.com