Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mixed during morning trading on Tuesday February 5, with most metals consolidating gains made at Monday’s close while low stocks and a weaker dollar fail to prompt upward price action. Across afternoon trading on Monday, nickel, zinc and lead futures rallied to reach fresh highs, with low liquidity due to the Chinese New Year holidays contributing to a flurry of buying. Despite falling 1.2% over the morning session, nickel’s three-month price continues to trade above $13,000 per tonne, a level above which it has not consistently traded since August 2018. The metal’s LME stock count continues to float around 200,000 tonnes, which is its lowest stock count since 2014, while dominant warrant positions at 50-79% sit across stock, tom/next and cash positions. “The Chinese are celebrating their new year festival today, so markets there will remain closed. One might presume, therefore, that not much would be happening on the metals markets – yet metals prices increased almost across the board yesterday amid good economic data [from the United States],” Commerzbank Research said
