On the London Metal Exchange (LME), nickel trading resumed Asian time, marking a key step in the market’s recovery efforts after last year’s turmoil.
Trading activity was low on Monday, with 366 tonnes of contracts traded by 7.30 am London time, compared with the average daily volume of around 214,000 tonnes this year. Prices fell by 0.7 per cent — to $23,300 per ton.
The official website of the London Metal Exchange had a 0.25 per cent increase in the price of nickel from the previous trading day, trading it for 22,517 dollars.
After more than a year of trading suspension and the cancellation of billions of dollars in transactions resulting from short-term issues focused on the major producer Tsingshan Holding Group, trading in nickel resumed on the metals exchange at 1 am London time.
Prices rose 250 per cent in just over 24 hours in early March 2022, with the sharpest jump occurring during trading on Asian time. The stock market reopened a week later, with the opening in London starting at eight o’clock in the morning, writes Bloomberg.
No additional problems
The original plan was to resume Asian trading a week ago. Still, the launch was delayed again due to the risk of instability after discovering that some of the warehouse cargo contained stones instead of nickel.
The LME announced that there were no additional problems during the global audit. According to the statement, the exchange hopes that the extended working hours will increase trading volume, facilitating arbitrage between the London and Shanghai contracts.
Activity in the nickel market stayed well under pre-crisis levels, and a shortage of liquidity donated to periodic price swings.
