EU carbon prices eased in light trade on Thursday to partially unwind gains made earlier in the week, as supply pressure from government auctions weighed.

The Dec-15 EUA contract settled down 9 cents at €7.43, near the bottom of the day’s €7.42-7.59 trading range, after gradually fading following an earlier rally that extended the contract’s two-week high.

Turnover was a thin 8 million units due to a public holiday in Germany and no auction-related activity for the second straight day.

Auctions will resume in earnest tomorrow, however, with Germany’s sale of 3.2 million spot EUAs preceding a full week of sales totalling 15 million, a near-maximum for this year.

German clean dark spreads for calendar 2017 and 2018, key indicators of demand from German utilities looking to sell electricity forward, edged higher to hit their loftiest levels since early May.

By Ben Garside – ben@carbon-pulse.com