Nickel hits record high

Nickel hit a record high in London on Friday, while copper edged lower by the close of trade but may challenge recent peaks in the next two weeks, analysts said.
London Metal Exchange nickel for delivery in three months was $345 higher at $23,890/23,895 at the close and just off an earlier record peak of $24,100 touched in electronic trade.
"Technically this is a very bullish break out for nickel and the higher it moves, the more buying it will attract from chart-based investors," Man Financial analyst Edward Meir said.
Strong fundamentals - demand, supply and inventory levels - also supported the metal, primarily used in stainless steel production.
Nickel stocks were just 9,462 tonnes - around two days of world consumption and the premium or backwardation for cash metal, currently at $1,575, illustrated how tight the market is, dealers said.
Indonesia's state-owned Antam expects its nickel production to fall to between 13,000-16,000 tonnes this year because of a temporary shutdown at its third smelter, the company said on Thursday.
Copper was expected to build on its recent strong performance - it rallied over 6 percent on Thursday and is up $1,300 from recent lows - and could re-challenge May's record high of $8,800.
LME three-months copper closed down $110 at $7,740 a tonne.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, benchmark September copper settled down 6.95 cents at $3.5475 a lb, near the lower end of its $3.5360-$3.6195 trading band.
Copper prices have rebounded towards the May 11 peak, after falling as much as 27 percent to $6,410 in mid-June as risk-averse investors pulled money out of commodities amid interest rate hikes in Europe and Asia.
"We have had a good run higher, but $8,000 is a technically and psychologically significant barrier, so we may have to bump against it a few times before we break through," Meir said.
"But I think it will be taken out, maybe in the next two weeks."
He said that prices would likely remain strong until August's US Federal Reserve meeting, but added: "In the run up to that, market nerves will increase."
Analysts said the weak US data meant the Federal Reserve was likely to maintain its less-hawkish attitude towards monetary policy, which sent the euro sharply higher against the dollar.
US payrolls data showed 121,000 new jobs were created in June versus analyst expectations of 185,000.
"The data was a lot weaker than consensus. The metals complex has taken heart as the Fed can afford to wait to increase interest rates," UBS analyst Robin Bhar said.
Critically low inventory levels, labour unrest in Mexico and elsewhere and falling ore grades at major mines lend support.
LME inventories of copper, a mainstay of China's economic revolution, were down 1,975 tonnes at 89,600, less than two days of world consumption and down from nearly one million tonnes in 2002.
On Thursday, copper rose $480 or 6.5 percent to $7,850 on an influx of investment funds into the commodities sector, pushing nickel prices up to a new record peak and sending gold prices to a one-month high.