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Nickel heads for 7th straight drop as supply concerns ease

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BEIJING — London nickel prices fell for a

seventh straight session on Tuesday, hitting levels last seen

before Indonesia confirmed in September it would expedite a ban

on nickel ore exports to the start of 2020.

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Prices for the metal used to make stainless steel have

fallen sharply this week after the Southeast Asian country said

it had allowed nine companies to resume nickel ore exports until

the end of the year. It had halted shipments on Oct. 28 due to

export rules violations.

China, the main purchaser of Indonesian nickel ore, produced

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13,960 tonnes of refined nickel in October, down 6.8% from

September but 2.2% higher than a year earlier, analysts at

research firm Antaike wrote in a note.

“Recent weak economic data (is) likely to remain a headwind

for commodity markets,” ANZ said, noting that China’s credit

growth had slowed more than expected in October.

FUNDAMENTALS

* NICKEL: Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange

slipped as much as 1% to $15,410 a tonne, the lowest

since Aug. 23 and stood at $15,455 as of 0734 GMT, having

dropped 3.9% in the previous session.

* SHFE: The most traded February nickel contract on

the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell as much as 3.5% to 120,500

yuan ($17,228.81) a tonne, the lowest since Oct. 23 before

closing down 2.5% on 121,750 yuan.

* SHFE STOCKS: Nickel inventories in warehouses tracked by

the ShFE on Friday rose to their highest since the

week ended June 1, 2018 at 30,831 tonnes, easing worries that

supply is tight.

* OTHER METALS: Three-month copper LME copper rose

0.4% to $5,904 a tonne, after ending down 0.8% on Monday after

the weak Chinese lending data, while ShFE copper ended

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flat on 47,270 yuan a tonne. London zinc added 0.5% and

lead rose 0.7%.

* MARKET NERVES: Besides nickel, other LME metals “have made

ground this morning but the complex as a whole is nervous,”

Malcolm Freeman, director of UK-based Kingdom Futures, said in a

note.

* COLUMN: Funds are starting to turn more bullish on copper

– Andy Home

* SCRAP: A push to ease restrictions on high-quality scrap

copper imports into the world’s biggest metals consumer China

may run into “technical obstacles,” Antaike said on Monday.

* For the top stories in metals and other news, click

or

MARKETS NEWS

* Asian share markets edged higher and Europe looked set to

follow as investors awaited a speech by President Donald Trump

on U.S. trade policy and on news he will likely delay a decision

on whether to slap tariffs on European autos.

PRICES

BASE METALS PRICES 0734 GMT

Three month LME copper 5902

Most active ShFE copper 47260

Three month LME aluminum 1777

Most active ShFE aluminum 13815

Three month LME zinc 2507.5

Most active ShFE zinc 18810

Three month LME lead 2104

Most active ShFE lead 16015

Three month LME nickel 15460

Most active ShFE nickel 121750

Three month LME tin 16550

Most active ShFE tin 136310

BASE METALS ARBITRAGE

LME/SHFE COPPER LMESHFCUc3 689.39

LME/SHFE ALUMINIUM LMESHFALc3 -334.2

LME/SHFE ZINC LMESHFZNc3 -1139.52

LME/SHFE LEAD LMESHFPBc3 -1191.99

LME/SHFE NICKEL LMESHFNIc3 -3088.94

($1 = 6.9941 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by Aditya Soni and Shailesh

Kuber)

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