Nickel continues to cause chaos on the London Metal Exchange as investors sell off, prices hit the floor
According to Refinitiv data, nickel price reached $41,945/ton when the market opened for trading on March 17. Previously, the price of nickel doubled in just a few hours during the trading session on March 8 when the price was pushed to more than 100,000 USD. One of the world’s leading manufacturers, China’s Tsingshan Holding Group, bought in bulk to avoid short-term bets on the vital metal with what it describes as futuristic technologies. .
Trading was halted as the move exacerbated a rally at a time when the metal was soaring on fears of a growing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
On March 16, trading was again halted on the London Metal Exchange (LME) due to a technical glitch. The floor then reopened at 14:00 local time, ie about 23h on March 16, Hanoi time.
Fearing terrible volatility, the LME set a price ceiling and the floor in that session was only 5%. Today, the ceiling/floor margin was raised to 8%. The system error on March 16 allowed a small amount of transactions to be made below the ceiling/floor limit they applied.
Speaking before the exchange opened on March 16, Matthew Chamberlain, CEO of LME, said: “We are fully aware of the impact of strong price movements on many investors and we guarantee that this is the case. That won’t happen again.”
Mr. Chamberlain emphasized that the exchange prioritizes stability by limiting the ceiling/floor for intraday trading in a narrow range. However, this limit could be extended soon if regulators perceive the market to operate “in a more orderly manner”.
Prices for nickel and other commodities have spiked on supply concerns linked to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as well as Western sanctions on Russia that could cause disruptions.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: cafebiz.vn – Read the original article here
