Story below is a little old however LME has dropped to almost...

Story below is a little old however LME has dropped to almost 11kts and looks likely to fall lower. For daily results see this link. Still doesn't make any sense why MCR has dropped back below 60cents, anyone got any idea apart from Tax writeoffs from shareholders. I might do the same as it looks like I will be cleaning up on MIA this week, all fingers crossed. Will Nickel stocks here be worth buying? According to this data MCR is looking like extremley good value. I may have to expose myself to some more at the current price.

http://www.166e-nickel.nc/index_ev.asp

Monday, May 31, 2004
NICKEL prices are tipped to rise strongly in second half of the year as tumbling stockpiles encourage hedge funds to re-build their positions in the metal with a price above US$15,000 considered likely by Christmas.

Stocks in the warehouses of the London Metal Exchange stood at just 11,844 tonnes late last week, the lowest in three years.

A survey of the nickel market by Dow Jones revealed widespread consensus of rising prices in the second half after a sharp fall in the first five months of the year.

The wire service quoted one source saying that: "Nickel stocks are below 13,000 tonnes. Speculative funds are expecting tightness in six months from now and they will bring a price rally forward toward the end of the year although the physical market won't see an extremely tight market until the spring of 2005."

Barclays Capital metals analyst, Ingrid Sternby, said in a recent report that the nickel price was like "a valley between twin peaks".

Dow Jones said the analysts it interviewed expect a nickel market deficit of 15,000t in 2004 with no new production coming on line and demand from stainless steel producers rebounding from a slow first quarter.

Nickel hit a peak this year of US$17,700/t in January, bringing warnings from the industry that the price was damaging consumers. It dropped to a low of US$10,350/t in early May but has been rising since then.

One of the key factors in the recovery has been Inco's announcement that it will not be producing nickel from its Goro mine until mid-2007, six months later than the market expected.