Demand slump hits nickel

BASE METAL REVIEW

Nickel cathodes and tin slabs were the biggest losers last week as large stockists were seen adamantly offloading the metals at the current price.

Traders, who were otherwise expecting the boom to continue, started selling suddenly. This resulted in a panic among tin and nickel traders throughout the week.

Experts believe that the stainless steel industry's use of nickel has declined dramatically to 1-2 per cent from 6-7 per cent earlier. Therefore, the demand for nickel has come down sharply. Tin slabs prices in Mumbai dipped Rs 10 to Rs 395 per kg and nickel cathodes declined by Rs 14 to Rs 726 per kg last week.

Meanwhile, in London both the metals remained volatile. Due to rising demand from industrial users, nickel settled at $13,600 at the close of the week. The metal ruled at $13,560 at the beginning of the week. Tin recorded an overall loss of $230 during the week to close at $6,580 on Friday.

Copper wire bar stayed rangebound throughout the last week with thin volumes and a lacklustre response from traders. Copper wire bar prices were propped up by Re 1 to Rs 230 per kg on Thursday after three days of thin trade in Mumbai.

The domestic market was influenced by the uncertainties prevailing in the international markets. Towards the end of the week, traders offloaded copper wire bar vehemently and the commodity closed at Rs 229.

"The metal has topped. Despite the strong fundamentals, it will drastically decline," an active trader said.

Copper heavy scrap, however, jumped Rs 2 to close the week at Rs 209 after hitting Rs 210 in the mid-week. Copper utensil scrap followed suit and went downwards in the same range to Rs 181 per kg.

Copper light and sheet cutting made no change from the beginning level and ended the week at Rs 201 per kg and Rs 194 per kg, respectively.

Aluminium ingots, meanwhile, lost the early gain and closed at Rs 102 per kg, while sheet cutting went marginally down to Rs 83.5 per kg from Monday's level of Rs 84 per kg.

Zinc and lead had the peculiar combination to move upstream. Zinc slabs in Mumbai gained 50 paise to Rs 90 per kg while lead ingots perked up Rs 1.50 to Rs 55.5 per kg.