(Updates prices)
By Mai Nguyen
June 14 (Reuters) - London nickel prices slipped on
Friday and were on track for a fourth straight weekly loss on
rising inventories and profit-booking, while tin was set for a
weekly gain on tightening supply.
Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange
edged 0.5% lower to $17,550 per metric ton by 0818 GMT. The
contract is down 2.7% this week.
The most traded July nickel contract on the SHFE
shed 1.3% to 137,010 yuan ($18,883.35) a ton. The contract lost
has 4% this week, set for a third straight weekly drop.
SHFE nickel stocks stayed around the highest
since November 2020, while LME inventories climbed to 86,664 tons, their highest since February 2022.
The rising stockpiles were partly due to Chinese producers
ramping up output of high-grade cathodes deliverable on the LME.
Investors also booked profit since nickel prices hit the
highest since August 2023 in May, said CRU analyst Tong Tong,
despite improving demand from the stainless steel sector and
eroding supply growth in Indonesia in the second quarter.
"The market will shift into surplus in the third quarter as
Indonesian supply grows. Fundamentally, we expect a slightly
quarter-on-quarter lower price for the third quarter," he said,
as Indonesian mining quota approval accelerated.
LME tin inched up 0.6% at $32,990 and was up 4.9%
for the week.
"Monthly tin-in-concentrate shipments from Myanmar are
expected to remain low for May and June," said Tom Langston, an
analyst at the International Tin Association, adding that
refined tin exports from Indonesia had not rebounded strongly.
SHFE tin stocks begun to decline, and "tightening feedstock
supply and expected smelter maintenance this summer could
accelerate this drawdown", Langston added.
LME copper was nearly flat at $9,797.50 a ton, while
aluminium declined 0.4% to $2,548, zinc dropped
1.3% to $2,823.50 and lead edged down 0.6% at $2,153.
SHFE copper declined 0.6% to 79,550 yuan a ton,
aluminium decreased 0.9% to 20,565 yuan, zinc
shed 1% to 23,520 yuan, tin dropped 1.3% to 271,300
yuan, while lead rose 0.1% to 18,630 yuan.
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($1 = 7.2556 yuan)