Nickel Drops to 6-Month Low as Stockpiles Rise; Copper Falls
By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen
July 10 (Bloomberg) -- Nickel declined in London to the lowest in almost six
months as rising stockpiles of the metal indicated a slowdown in demand growth.
Copper fell from a two- month high and zinc also dropped.
Inventories of nickel, used in stainless steel, increased 72 tons to 9,954
tons, the London Metal Exchange said today in a daily report. They have soared
50 percent in 2007.
``It's a well-supplied market,'' said Andrew Silver, a trader at Natixis
Commodity Markets Ltd., one of 11 companies trading on the LME's floor. Prices
are ``still very expensive'' and may fall further, he said in an interview in
London.
Nickel for delivery in three months on the LME dropped $800 or 2.3 percent,
to $33,600 a ton as of 10:24 a.m. local time. Earlier, the contract slid as
much as 4.2 percent to $32,975 a ton, the lowest intraday price since Jan. 16.
The metal has declined 32 percent since trading at a record $51,800 on May 9.
In May, German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG said it may reduce nickel purchases
to cut costs while Finnish competitor Outokumpu Oyj said it will probably take
similar measures.
LME stockpiles that are available for purchase, known as on-warrants metal,
have increased 13 percent this month to the highest since June 2006. On-warrant
stockpiles accounted for 94 percent of total inventories.
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