bloomberg.com
Nickel Plunges Most in 5 Weeks After Stockpiles Gain (Correct)
(Corrects dropped letter in `plunges' in headline.)
July 18 (Bloomberg) -- Nickel plunged the most in five weeks after a jump in stockpiles eased concern about tight supplies that had sent prices this week to their highest level in at least 19 years.
Inventory of the metal monitored by the London Metal Exchange jumped 456 tons, or 7.1 percent, to 6,918 tons, the biggest one-day supply gain since Dec. 17. Rising demand for the metal, used in stainless steel, has reduced LME stockpiles by 80 percent in the past year and boosted prices by 71 percent.
``A lot of the buying of nickel has been done on the premise that the world is running out,'' said Robin Bhar, an analyst at UBS Ltd. in London. ``This increase in inventory does highlight the fact that there's more of the metal around than in the LME.''
Nickel for delivery in three months dropped $1,575, or 6.1 percent, to $24,175 a metric ton at 6:34 p.m. on the London Metal Exchange, after reaching $23,900, the lowest since July 11. The decline was the biggest since June 13. Nickel reached $26,900 yesterday, the highest since at least 1987.
Some analysts say that supplies remain tight. Mine output will fall short of demand by about 25,000 tons in the second half of this year, said James Lennon, director of research for Macquarie Bank in London.
``The market will remain under pressure,'' Lennon said. |
