Europe's return to the metals market after the Easter bank holiday has failed to precipitate any significant consumption, while a further slew of weak European and United States economic data destabilized London Metal Exchange three-month contracts by the close on Tuesday April 23.
The entire complex traded down by close of play but no metal was harder-hit than nickel. The metal's LME three-month price was trading down by $252 per tonne from the $12,672-per-tonne close on April 19 and has been in continual decline since the $13,660-per-tonne high on March 6. But far from being disconcerted, market analysts consider this downward price action to be expected, with the three-month nickel price hitting its 200 daily moving average and retracing the 38.2% price gain made between the $10,525-per-tonne low on January 9...