Nickel and lead futures prices on the LME returned to levels unseen since the last week of April on the morning of Thursday May 13, with the fallout continuing after the release of the latest US inflation figures.
Nickel's price was at $17,295 per tonne on Thursday at 9am, a 2.8% fall from Wednesday's closing price of $17,797 per tonne, which had itself been a 0.7% fall. The metal had reached $18,265 per tonne on Monday, its highest level since March 3, on the back of a broad-based rally on the London Metal Exchange, when all metals reached new year-to-date or all-time highs. The rally came to a halt on Wednesday, following the release of US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for April, which showed a steep increase in US goods prices. CPI readings showed a...