The three-month nickel price opened the day $265 lower to $11,325 per tonne around 9:50AM London time. Weak demand for stainless steel is putting pressure on the metal, analysts said.
All other base metals also fell during that time.
“High volume and broad-based weakness for the second morning running do not bode well for the day ahead,” Metal Bulletin senior analyst William Adams said.
Copper slides around $99 on the LME
- Copper fell 1.42% to $6,830.50 per tonne.
- The metal showed signs of weakness on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, following concerns about economic growth in Asia.
- China’s industrial profits rose 25.1% year on year in October, lower than the 27.7% jump in September.
All other base metals slide
- Aluminium fell $16.50 to $2,115 per tonne.
- Zinc was down $43 to $3,143 per tonne.
- Lead traded $25.50 lower to $2,438 per tonne.
- Tin ticked $15 to $19,490 per tonne. Lower LME tin prices are the result of heavy rain in Indonesia, one trader said.
Currency moves and data releases
- The dollar index was up to 92.99, a 0.1% climb.
- In other commodities, the Brent crude oil spot price was down 0.61% at $63.34 per barrel.
- The OECD Europe Economic Outlook report is due later this morning.