The strength of the rise was the largest in the 145-year history of the London metal market, according to the Bloomberg agency.
After “monitoring the market and the effects of the developing situation in Russia and Ukraine that evidently affected the nickel market in particular”, the exchange decided to suspend trading from 8:15 a.m. London time (5:15 a.m. Argentina).
Likewise, he did not rule out the possibility that the closure will continue for several days “due to the current geopolitical situation that underlies recent price movements.”
The negotiation of nickel contracts, for the moment, will be negotiated on the basis of closing prices of yesterday’s session (at approximately US$ 48,000), and all transactions carried out during today’s session will be cancelled, reported from LME .
Nickel, which is used in industry in multiple inputs from stainless steel to electric vehicle batteries, is another of the metals that registered strong increases in international prices along with aluminum and palladium.
The rise was driven above all by fears of shortages from Russia, a country that produces 17% of the nickel in the world.
“Russia is the world’s third largest producer of nickel and the first of primary nickel products, such as refined nickel needed for electric vehicle batteries,” explained Benjamin Louvet, OFI AM analyst to the AFP agency.
Another factor that pushed prices up was movements in the market by the Chinese group Tsingshan Holding, one of the world’s largest producers of nickel and stainless steel.
The company started to establish a short position (a bet that prices will fall) last year, but nevertheless, so far this year the value is already up 400%.
If the market moves against those positions, they receive a “margin call” requesting more funds, and if they don’t pay, they may be forced to close their position.
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