Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Treashunt, post: 241621, member: 6763&quot;]Nickel prices plunge 6%</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Table based on June 12, 2007 closing base metal prices:</p><p>Copper $3.2829/lb 0.0461&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Zinc $1.6919/lb 0.0159&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Nickel $19.0834/lb 01.2391 </p><p>Jun 12, 2007 08:26 AM</p><p>Reuters</p><p><br /></p><p>LONDON – Nickel dropped by more than 6 per cent on Tuesday and copper shed more than one per cent as Chinese imports fell in May, analysts said.</p><p><br /></p><p>Nickel for delivery in three months (MNI3) on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell by 6.4 per cent to hit $39,800 a tonne, its lowest since February 23. It recovered slightly to end the official open outcry session at $40,700.</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Nickel inventories are up again and cancelled warrants are down, removing some price support,&quot; analyst Michael Widmer at Calyon said.</p><p><br /></p><p>Cancelled warrants represent metal earmarked for delivery from LME-registered warehouses to users.</p><p><br /></p><p>Nickel stocks rose by 42 tonnes to 8,922, with over two days of global consumption or 8,478 tonnes available to the market.</p><p><br /></p><p>Three-months copper (MCU3) was down $140 or 1.9 per cent at $7,220 after rising 3 per cent in the previous session.</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;There is downward pressure on copper emanating from Chinese import figures, while upward pressure comes from possible strikes at Collahuasi and Grupo Mexico,&quot; Widmer said.</p><p><br /></p><p>China imported 220,561 tonnes of copper, including semi-finished products, in May, down about a quarter from the high levels seen in March and April.</p><p><br /></p><p>In Chile, workers at Collahuasi, which can produce around 400,000 tonnes of copper a year, said they planned demonstrations later this week to demand an improved labour contract proposal from mine managers. </p><p><br /></p><p>In Mexico, workers at the country&#039;s largest copper mine have backed a strike call by their union, bringing a threatened stoppage a step closer at nine Grupo Mexico operations later this week.</p><p><br /></p><p>The union official said the strike at the Cananea copper mine and eight other facilities would begin at midday on Friday if no deal was reached with Grupo Mexico.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in