London nickel fell on Wednesday, after a short rebound in the previous session, while Shanghai nickel rose tracking overnight gains in London.
Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell 1.1% to $16,320 a tonne by 0231 GMT, reversing a 2.5% jump in the previous session. The contract has lost some 15% from its five-year peak hit in September.
The most-traded nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) rose 2.1% to 128,930 yuan ($18,195.80) a tonne, tracking overnight gains in London.
FUNDAMENTALS
* NICKEL SPREAD: The differences MNI0-3 between LME cash and nickel three month contracts flipped to a discount this week, after holding in premium zone for more than two months, indicating supply tightness has eased.
* NICKEL STOCKS: LME nickel stocks MNISTX-TOTAL fell to 87,132 tonnes, hovering around their lowest since November 2011, while ShFE nickel inventories have picked up recently SNI-TOTAL-W.
* NICKEL: Global demand for nickel is expected to increase to 2.52 million tonnes in 2020 versus 2.45 million tonnes in 2019, while global output of nickel is expected to increase to 2.48 million tonnes in 2020 versus 2.37 million tonnes in 2019, the International Nickel Study Group said.
* NORNICKEL: Three people were killed on Tuesday in an accident at Norilsk Nickel’s Taimyr underground mine in Siberia, the second-largest nickel producer said.
* COPPER: Miner Anglo American Plc forecast lower full-year copper production, as it grapples with a water shortage in Chile, while raising the annual iron-ore production outlook for its Minas-Rio mine in Brazil.
* CODELCO: Workers at Chile’s state-owned Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, will join a general strike planned for Wednesday amid protests that have shaken the country, the head of the union group told Reuters on Tuesday.
* ALUMINIUM: Global miner Rio Tinto Ltd on Wednesday flagged a possible pullback or closure of New Zealand’s Aluminium Smelter, citing weakness in the aluminium market and high energy costs.
* PRICES: LME copper fell 0.3%, zinc declined 0.6%, lead dropped 1% while tin eased 0.2%. ShFE copper fell 0.3%, zinc declined 0.8%, lead lost 1.1% while tin rose 0.5%. - Reuters -