The London Metal Exchange nickel three-month price was the biggest beneficiary in an otherwise subdued 5pm ring close on Monday July 8, trading up 2% to close at $12,720 per tonne.
Buying on the base metals complex was largely quiet after the dollar index rose by 0.13 to 97.38 during the day. Nickel's upward price action may have come on the strength of news of an earthquake on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, where Chinese investment firm Tsingshan runs the 50,000 tonne per year Morowali nickel production plant. It is unclear if smelter output there has been affected by the earthquake. Today's price move seemingly ignored news that Indonesian mining and metal company Aneka Tambang's ferro-nickel smelter is due...