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Nickel prices hit 2-week high
- Nickel prices hit their highest in nearly two weeks on Thursday, as investors who bet on falling prices had to buy in at a strong support level.
By Mai Nguyen
SINGAPORE, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Nickel prices hit their highest in nearly two weeks on Thursday, as investors who bet on falling prices had to buy in at a strong support level.
Nickel prices have fallen in the past weeks to touch a five-month low of $12,900 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange (LME) on Tuesday, as the market viewed prices more expensive than supply and demand fundamentals indicated.
“$13,000 was a critical number to defend,†said a trader.
Three-month nickel on the LME on Thursday climbed as much as 0.9% to $13,980 a tonne, its highest since Nov. 29.
The most-traded nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) jumped as high as 3.5% to 110,570 yuan ($15,708.42) a tonne, nearing a two-week high, before ending at 110,190 yuan a tonne, up 3.1% from the previous close.
Other nickel industry players said that a royalty hike in top nickel ore producer Indonesia contributed to a bullish view on prices, but they expressed uncertainty over how long the upward trend could last.
FUNDAMENTALS
* SPREAD: The LME cash nickel contract was last at a $65 a tonne discount to the three-month contract, suggesting sufficient nearby supplies.
* NICKEL STOCKS: LME on-warrant nickel inventories, or those available to the market, rose to a 2-1/2-month high at 67,248 tonnes. MNISTX-TOTAL
* ALUMINIUM STOCKS & SPREAD: LME headline aluminium stocks MALSTX-TOTAL jumped to their highest since April 2018 at 1.33 million tonnes, and the spread between the cash and three-month contract flipped to a discount of $8.75 a tonne after mostly holding in the premium zone for around a month. CMAL0-3
* OTHER PRICES: LME zinc advanced 1.3% to $2,250 a tonne at 0712 GMT, while copper fell 0.3% to $6,139 a tonne and aluminium rose 0.3% to $1,766 a tonne. ShFE copper rallied 0.5% to 49,030 yuan a tonne and zinc jumped 1.1% while aluminium fell 0.3%.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/global-metals/metals-nickel-prices-hit-2-week-highs-as-investors-cover-short-positions-idUSL4N28M1AN