Aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange rose to a new year-to-date high of $2,848 per tonne at the start of the day on Thursday September 9 while nickel strengthened to $20,255 per tonne during an early across-the-board uptrend.
Nickel's three-month price is 2.7% higher on Thursday morning than its closing price of $19,713 per tonne on Wednesday.
The stainless steel additive's previous year-to-date high was set in February, making it one of the laggards in the base metals complex in that respect.
Among the factors that pushed up nickel prices are declining global inventories, bullish speculative funds positioning and
stainless steel production cuts, "with the view [that] producers will ramp up production before the cuts," Fastmarkets head of base metals and battery research William Adams said on Thursday morning.
On the inventories side,...