Shipwreck Floats Nickel's Boat

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

Shipwreck floats nickel's boat
Uncertainty about grounded ship's cargo, strike worries send metal's price soaring

JOHN PARTRIDGE

While some other commodities appear headed for the rocks, a British shipwreck has helped buoy nickel to new highs.

The vital metal, a key ingredient of stainless steel, hit $38,300 (U.S.) a tonne on the London Metal Exchange yesterday amid uncertainty about the fate of more than 1,000 tonnes of the stuff that was on board the MSC Napoli. The container ship was deliberately run aground on Britain's south coast late last week to save it from sinking.

To put that 1,000-plus tonnes in context, it amounts to almost 20 per cent of the 5,052 tonnes of nickel currently stored in warehouses around the world that the LME tracks . .

Yesterday marked the fifth trading session in a row that the metal has established a new record. Its $38,200-a-tonne closing price was up $900 from Monday, an increase of about 15 per cent from the start of 2007 and 157 per cent from this time last year. "Nickel is so high right now, nobody would have ever dreamed [it] in their wildest imagination," said Derek Webb, founder and chief investment officer of San Francisco hedge fund Webb Asset Management.

Even some investors who did not expect nickel to keep rising see no reason for it to stop any time soon. . . . . .

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login