Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were predominantly higher during morning trading on Wednesday February 20, with market sentiment benefiting from continuing trade negotiations between the United States and China.
Both copper and nickel futures are trading higher so far this morning, with the former comfortably above $6,300 per tonne, and up by more than 6% since the beginning of the year. Price action in nickel was similarly incremental, with the metal now comfortably trading above $12,700 per tonne. Both metals' prices remain elevated against a backdrop of falling LME stocks, with copper stocks hovering at a decade-low, while total LME nickel inventory is down to its lowest level since 2014 at just over 200,000 tonnes. Trade volumes remain moderate over the morning, with more than 6,000 lots of copper changing hands by 10:15am London time. "Copper is continuing to rise today amid generally good market sentiment and has climbed to $6,350 per tonne. The...