Traders cashed in gains in nickel, zinc and aluminium on Thursday after the metals hit multi-year highs the day before, with nickel posting its biggest two-day jump in more than three years. The stainless steel material surged by more than $1,100 a tonne over Tuesday and Wednesday on expectations that demand would be boosted by a rise in electric car buying, while zinc hit its highest since August 2007 on deficit expectations.
"It's going to be a long time before electric vehicles have a material impact on overall demand," Capital Economics analyst Caroline Bain said. "It is good news for nickel that it's got a longer-term future, but in short, it's a bit overdone." "Zinc has got a much better (picture) underpinning it - exchange stocks are very low, supply is tight," she added. "Zinc has got a little ahead of itself, but it has a much better underlying story."
Aluminium also pulled back after matching last week's five-year peak. London Metal Exchange nickel, which hit its highest in more than two years at $13,010 a tonne on Wednesday, closed down 1.4 percent at $12,605. Prices are still up more than 8 percent this week. Manufacturers are increasingly trying to boost usage of nickel in electric vehicle batteries in preference to expensive, hard-to-source cobalt.
Zinc ended the day down 0.6 percent at $3,258 a tonne after rising to its highest in a decade on Wednesday to $3,326. Zinc inventories held in LME-registered warehouses fell by another 3,125 tonnes, data showed on Thursday, to their lowest since early October to 250,900 tonnes. Traders, producers and end-users have gathered in London for a key industry conference this week. The dollar fell to its lowest in a week against a basket of major currencies on Thursday after Republicans in the US House of Representatives released proposals to overhaul the tax code.
LME copper finished little changed at $6,929 a tonne after Wednesday's 1.3 percent gain. LME copper could retest resistance at $7,013 a tonne because its rally from the Oct. 27 low of $6,782.50 looks incomplete, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said. Aluminium closed down 0.5 percent at $2,173.50 a tonne, having risen on Wednesday to match last week's five-year high of $2,215 a tonne. Lead ended 1.6 percent lower at $2,443 and tin finished up 1.3 percent at $19,645.