Nickel price soars to all-time highApril 06, 2007 THE price of...

Nickel price soars to all-time high

April 06, 2007

THE price of nickel has struck an all-time high of $US50,000 dollars a tonne in London trading on Thursday owing to falling stockpiles of the base metal, traders said.
It was the highest reading for nickel since the start of its quotation on the London Metal Exchange (LME) in 1979. Nickel is used to help prevent corrosion.

"If there are any worries about slowing US and or global growth then they are not apparent from the performance of the base metals market, at least not over the past few days," UBS analyst Robin Bhar said.

"Although further gains are possible we suspect prices (at these levels) are unsustainable," he added.

The price of nickel has surged 50 percent since the start of 2007 and tripled in one year.

Later Thursday, the price of a tonne of nickel for delivery in three months stood at $US49,450.

Following the record high, profit-taking was expected ahead of the Easter break, traders said.

Stockpiles of nickel have shrunk to about 5,000 tonnes on the LME, equivalent to about one day's worth of global demand.

LME stocks stood at more than 32,000 tonnes a year ago, in part owing to global supply disruptions.