Nickel under pressure as most industrial metals lose ground

Nickel prices fell on Wednesday amid growing pressures on most industrial metals as traders sell futures extensively following bullish US inflation data, which paved the way for an extended duration of high interest rates. 

Copper three-month futures at the London Metals Exchange fell 0.3% to $8233.50 a tonne. 

Earlier US data showed consumer prices rose past estimates in January, hurting the odds of early US rate cuts in the first half of the year. 

Markets now don’t expect a rate cut in March at all, with less than a 50% chance of a cut in May according to the LSEG interest rate probability app.

Such developments are impacting the total economy, including industrial metal prices as economic growth is projected to slow down, while the dollar is expected to rise further. 

Copper futures are down 5.5% at the London Metals Exchange since touching a month high at $8704.50 on January 31, under pressure from weaker Chinese demand and US interest rate prospects. 

Zinc fell 0.2% to $2310 a tonne as inventories increased at the London Metals Exchange to 254,825 tonnes, a 32-month high. 

As for other metals, aluminum fell 0.2% to $2222 a tonne, while tin shed 0.4% to $27450, as nickel added 0.6% to $16,350, while lead gained 0.6% to $2010. 

Otherwise, the dollar index fell 0.2% as of 16:35 GMT to 104.7, with a session-high at 104.9, and a low at 104.7. 

Nickel spot prices stabilized at $15.940 thousand a tonne in American trade as of 16:45 GMT.