Nickel prices in London jumped on Tuesday, recouping some of the previous session’s sharp losses, as stockpiles remained at a multi-year low.
Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose as much as 4.4% to $17,285 a tonne after a 5.7% slump in the previous session. It was up 1.7% at 0705 GMT.
The most-traded nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) fell as much as 3.8% to 132,480 yuan ($18,730.91) a tonne and was down 3.4% at the close.
“The fireworks were supplied very late in the day… taking the price from $17,375 to $16,500 in less than five minutes,” said Malcolm Freeman of Kingdom Futures, referring to LME nickel’s sharp drop on Monday.
“One way or the other, something does not seem quite right and you would hope the LME is taking a close look at what is going on in the nickel market as it is certainly not reflecting what is happening in the physical market.”
FUNDAMENTALS
* SPREAD: LME cash nickel’s premium over the three-month contract MNI0-3 dipped slightly on Monday to $135 a tonne but still stayed in the premium zone where it has been since the middle of August, indicating tight prompt supplies.
* STOCKS: Nickel stocks in LME-approved warehouses MNISTX-TOTAL fell to 94,134 tonnes, the lowest since January 2012, the latest data showed.
* PRICES: LME copper fell 0.3%, aluminium dipped 0.2%, lead rose 0.2% while tin edged down 0.2%. In Shanghai, copper fell 0.2%, lead dropped 0.9% and aluminium rose 0.2%.
* HONGQIAO: Top aluminium producer China Hongqiao Group is in discussion with local authorities in Yunnan province to build an aluminium plant, a provincial government official said on Tuesday.
* CODELCO: Chile’s Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, said on Monday it is evaluating the closure of its Ventanas copper smelter in a polluted coastal region.
* NYRSTAR: Nyrstar’s Langlois mine in Canada, which produced 24,000 tonne of zinc content in concentrate last year, will cease production in December due to rock conditions having deteriorated to an extent to which the company considers it uneconomic, the company said in a release on Monday.
* LITHIUM: London-listed Bacanora Lithium plans to raise $300 million in capital early next year and says a deal with China’s Ganfeng Lithium Co Ltd puts it in a better position to raise the money than when it cancelled a smaller share sale last year.
