London suspends nickel trade after record spike

The London Metal Exchange on Tuesday suspended trade in nickel after the base metal rocketed to a record peak above $100,000 as Russian supply concerns sparked sharp volatility.

“Following further unprecedented overnight increases in the three-month nickel price, the LME has made the decision to suspend trading for, at minimum, the remainder of today,” the exchange said in a brief statement.

Nickel earlier spiked to an all-time pinnacle of $101,365 per tonne.

It later settled back to $80,000, up 66.4 percent from Monday, before the market was halted.

“We suspect that a so-called short squeeze is partly responsible for the extraordinary price surge, in addition to the concerns about supply,” said Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann.

“Some market participants who had been betting on falling prices were clearly surprised and wrong-footed by the price upswing and momentum since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”