Zinc, lead, other metals debut trading on Shanghai physical platform

BEIJING, Oct 18 (Reuters) –

* A total of 41 transactions were made on cash-settled lead, zinc, tin and nickel futures warrants in their trading debut on Thursday, the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) said in a statement

* Total volume reached 252 million yuan ($36.3 million), it said

* Chalco, Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group, Sinosteel , Trafigura and Mercuria were among the 44 companies that transacted using the platform

* The bourse said it will add more products into the standard warrants trading platform and will look into launching non-standard warrants trading and over-the-counter derivatives in order to meet market demand

* ShFE started trading copper and aluminium futures warrants in May ($1 = 6.9364 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Muyu Xu and Dominique Patton; Editing by Manolo Serapio Jr.)