Nickel tumbles 3% even as dollar reverses lower

Most industrial metals lost ground on Thursday even as dollar reversed lower amid uncertainty about the time line of interest rate cuts in 2024.

Copper three-month futures fell 0.3% to $8495 a tonne at the London Metals Exchange, while February copper futures fell 0.3% at the Shanghai exchange. 

Dollar gained ground as investors reassess prospects of US interest rate cuts in 2024 as caution spreads following the Federal Reserve's last meeting minutes. 

Trading remains thin as markets take time off to celebrate the holidays. 

At the London Metals Exchange, aluminium prices fell 0.9% to $2291 a tonne, while nickel slid 0.7% to $16,300 as zinc fell 0.6% to $2570, while tin fell 0.4% as lead edged up 0.2% to $2,050.

At the Shanghai Exchange, nickel prices fell by nearly 2%, while zinc shed 0.9% to 21,350 yuan as tin rose 0.5% to 211,220.

Otherwise, the dollar index fell 0.2% to 102.3 as of 16:13 GMT, with a session-high at 102.5, and a low at 102.1.

Nickel spot prices fell 3.1% in American trade as of 16:24 GMT to $15.714 thousand a tonne.