The London Metal Exchange (LME) has discovered that some of its registered nickel is missing. Nine warrants, equivalent to 54 tonnes, have been declared invalid after being found to be “non-conformant with the contract specifications”, the LME said in a March 17 notice. What should have been bags of nickel briquettes grading at least 99.8% pure metal have turned out...
China’s copper smelters are preparing to boost exports, a sign its manufacturing and construction sectors aren’t yet making a decisive recovery from the ravages of the past year. The possibility of a powerful rebound in Asia’s biggest economy has fueled a number of bullish calls on the industrial metal since China exited strict Covid curbs late last year. But an...
The UK markets watchdog opened an investigation into the London Metal Exchange focusing on potential misconduct during last year’s massive nickel short squeeze, escalating pressure on the embattled exchange and raising the prospect of financial penalties. The probe by the Financial Conduct Authority’s enforcement division is the first public action of its kind targeting a UK exchange, and will focus...
The United States has extended its punitive economic measures against Russia into the metals and mining sector. Aluminium will be hardest hit with penal tariffs of 200% on imports of Russian metal, effective March 10, and imports of any third-country product containing Russian metal, effective April 10. Import tariffs on other metals such as copper and lead will double to...
London copper prices were headed for their first monthly drop in four on Tuesday, weighed down by a firmer U.S. dollar and as demand from top consumer China remained subdued. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 rose 0.1% to $8,812.50 a tonne by 0839 GMT, but the contract was down 4.5% on a monthly basis, its first decline...
CME Group plans to launch a nickel contract, settled with prices gathered from a platform to be launched by UK-based Global Commodities Holdings (GCH), which could eventually compete with the London Metal Exchange, three sources with knowledge said. For years, LME nickel prices were used as a global reference by producers and consumers using the metal as an ingredient for...
Copper prices fell on Thursday as the prospect of further US interest rate rises sent caution through markets and boosted the dollar, making metals costlier for buyers with other currencies. Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 2.3% at $8,906.50 a tonne at 1705 GMT and on track for its biggest one-day fall since Dec. 15....
The London Metal Exchange (LME) announced on 17 January that General Counsel and Head of Enforcement Tom Hine will step down from his role at the end of the month. In a statement, the exchange said that the LME Group legal management team temporarily assumed Hine’s responsibilities starting September 2022. Hine has been with the LME for 17 years and...
The chair of the London Metal Exchange (LME), Gay Huey Evans CBE, announced that she will step down from her role in the wake of a nickel trading scandal that has shaken the exchange. The scandal, which was sparked by volatile prices in the nickel market in March due to the war in Ukraine, prompted the LME to shut its...
The London Metal Exchange (LME) has introduced new rules allowing for deferral in order to prevent future squeezes on its warehouse inventories. These rules come with costly fees, however, and traders on the LME have expressed concern over the dwindling inventories. The tight stockpiles reflect the tension that has gripped metals markets for much of this year, a result of...
