LME - nickel futures lower, dragging down other base metals
Nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell 7% in intra-day trading on Thursday, and were weighed down by technical selling by the fund. Concerns about the strike of Canadian nickel miners have subsided.
Three-month nickel closed at $13,000 per tonne in late-night general trading, down $975, and has fallen by about $1,500 since Monday.
One trader said that because the fund sold, the price exceeded $13,800 per ton, and there was a large amount of selling. The nickel trading volume on the LME electronic trading platform Select hit a record high.
The market is currently supporting between 12,500-13,000 US dollars, which should be able to stop the decline.
Traders expect union workers at the Inco (N.TO) Manitoba mine will approve a new three-year contract on Friday.
Inco, the world's second-largest nickel miner, said on Thursday that its Voisey's Bay mine in Labrador, on the eastern coast of Canada, has produced nickel concentrates from the previous batch and that the mine is still expected to be shipped out in November 2005. In the previous batch of nickel concentrates, output in 2006 will reach 110 million pounds.
LME nickel inventories have been on the rise in the summer and are currently around 10,700 tons, which has increased by 60% since the beginning of July and is a high level since March.
Other metals fall with nickel
The nickel sell-off caused other basic metals to fall.
Three-month copper fell by 27 U.S. dollars to 3,538 yuan per tonne; aluminum fell by 24 U.S. dollars to 1,826 yen.
Zinc reported 1,365, fell 25 US dollars; lead report 852, down 11 US dollars.
Tin declined to a new low since February 2004, falling from $175 to 6,550.