WSJ:LME Nickel At 11-Month High As Copper Recovers From Rout
By Laura Clarke
LONDON--Nickel on the London Metal Exchange rose to its highest price in 11 months amid ongoing supply concerns and as a broad recovery across the metals pulled the LME complex higher.
LME 3-month nickel traded 1.8% higher from the previous session's closing price, at $15,725 per metric tonne, a level last seen in April 2013.
"The metal markets have embarked on a noticeable counter movement this morning following the sharp losses they had suffered in recent days," noted analysts at Commerzbank in a note to clients.
The bank said that nickel's gains were caused by concerns about supply. Indonesia, which produces more than 10% of the world's supply, banned exports of nickel ore from mid-January in a bid to cultivate its own smelting industry.
"For one thing the ore export ban in Indonesia, and for another the fear of possible sanctions against Russia and the impact such sanctions would have on nickel shipments from the world's largest nickel producer," the bank noted, adding its believes the latter risk to be exaggerated. "Our technical analysts see further upside potential."
LME 3-month copper rose 0.8% on the day to $6,701 per tonne after a two-session slump, triggered by fears of risks to demand from top consumer China, pushed the red metal down to levels last seen in June 2013.
William Adams, head of research at FastMarkets, said copper remained vulnerable to further set-backs, tipping $6,600 per tonne as an important price support level.
"A drop below there would open up a new chapter for copper," he said.
Elsewhere, aluminum rose 1.0% to $1,793.25 per tonne, zinc rose 0.3% to $2,047 per tonne, lead climbed 1.2% to $2,110 per tonne, and tin gained 0.9% to $23,100 per tonne.