The three-month nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was lower during morning trading on Friday February 21, with its price action now testing support at $12,500 per tonne, while a 14,000-tonne fresh cancelation failed to bolster copper's futures price.
Nickel's outright price on the LME was recently at $12,575 per tonne, down some $165 per tonne from Thursday's closing price of $12,670 per tonne. Turnover was moderate with just under 3,000 lots exchanged as of 9:30am London time. Frequent stock inflows of LME-registered nickel continue to find their way into LME warehouses, pressuring prices lower, with spot appetite in the physical market an ongoing question against price volatility. Total LME on-warrant nickel stocks now sit at 143,016 tonnes, up from just 43,700 tonnes at the start of December 2019. This comes against a strong and persistent contango in LME nickel's benchmark...