A Blog for Browsing Mining, Mineral Processing, and Metals Info

LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) – Nickel rose for a third day on Tuesday as investors bet that long-awaited shortages would finally begin to hit the market in coming months, while copper dipped on worries about growth in China.

Nickel has shed 29 percent since touching a 27-month peak of $21,625 a tonne in May after a deficit failed to appear despite a ban on ore shipments from top exporter Indonesia.

Supply from the Philippines has unexpectedly filled the gap, but this may not last, some analysts say.

“There’s clearly a surplus of nickel at the moment, but once we get to November and beyond, you’ll get the seasonal weakness in the Philippines supply combining with an absence of Indonesian ore and the market could look very different indeed,” said Nic Brown, head of commodities research at Natixis.

Benchmark nickel was the top performer on the London Metal Exchange (LME), climbing 1.5 percent to close at $16,950 a tonne after gaining 0.9 percent on Monday.

Read more at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-2783373/Copper-slips-strong-dollar-demand-uncertainty-weigh.html