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LME Suspends Nickel Trading After Unprecedented Price Spike

Published 08/03/2022, 09:16
© Bloomberg. Traders, brokers and clerks on the trading floor of the open outcry pit at the London Metal Exchange Ltd. (LME) in London, U.K., on Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. The turmoil unleashed in commodity markets by Russia's invasion of Ukraine worsened on Monday as LNG orders were paused, finance for trade in raw materials dried up and Black Sea wheat sales froze.
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(Bloomberg) -- The London Metal Exchange halted trading in its nickel market after an unprecedented price spike left brokers struggling to pay margin calls against deeply unprofitable short positions.

Nickel prices surged by as much as 250% over the past two days to hit record highs above $100,000 a ton, in the largest price move ever seen on the LME. The frenzied move came as investors and industrial users who had sold the metal scrambled to buy the contracts back, while brokers rushed to collect margin payments to cover their deeply unprofitable positions. 

A unit of China Construction Bank (OTC:CICHF) was given additional time by the LME to pay hundreds of millions of dollars of margin calls it missed Monday, Bloomberg reported. 

The suspension is for at least the remainder of Tuesday. 

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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