European carbon prices edged up in extremely thin trade on Monday, as many countries were closed for public holidays and some traders were making their way to an annual carbon markets conference being held in Spain.

Front-year EU Allowance futures were up 5 cents at €7.39 by 1620 GMT, on very light volume of 731,000 units traded. The benchmark contract traded in a narrow range between €7.34 and €7.44.

Trade further along the EUA futures curve was also light, with the Dec-18 and 19 contracts adding 9 cents each.

Many market participants will congregate in Barcelona between Tuesday and Thursday of this week for the annual Carbon Expo conference and trade fair.

Volumes were also thin today due peripheral energy markets being closed and the absence of a government permit auction.

Bernadett Papp, an analyst with Budapest-based Vertis, said EUA prices fell below major support levels last week that will function as technical resistance levels in the future.

“A political event, like the vote in the ENVI committee (on the MSR) on Tuesday would generally have a major price impact, but as the broader market expects the positive decision to be priced in, the price reaction might be moderate,” she said.

“The long-term increasing trend, however, which started last year when backloading became operational, is still valid.”

By Mike Szabo – mike@carbon-pulse.com