Nickel prices rose in LME
Nickel futures transacted in London Metal Exchange (LME) saw the seven months' highest price level. Nickel with three months delivery period rose 2.8% to $16'700/metric ton. Analysts expect the global demand for nickel to exceed the supply by 10'000 – 20'000 tons due to the high demand from the Chinese stainless steelmakers in 2005. However, analysts do not expect the price of nickel to exceed $17'000/mt limit, with the reason that users will start to prefer 200 and 400 stainless steel series with less nickel and more chrome and manganese instead of the 300 series with high nickel ingredient.