LONDON – Nickel volumes on the London Metal Exchange (LME) slid 28% month-on-month in March during a period of chaotic trading that included a shutdown, data showed on Friday.
The exchange, the world’s oldest and largest market for industrial metals, suspended nickel trading on March 8 after prices spiked by more than 50% in a matter of hours to hit $100,000 a tonne.
A spate of technical glitches after trading resumed on March 16 left traders fuming and volumes thinner than usual.
The average daily volume of combined LME nickel futures and options slumped to 64,952 lots in March compared to 90,685 a month earlier and 88,342 in January, data showed.
The surge in prices that triggered the halt was blamed on short-covering by one of the world’s top producers, China’s Tsingshan Holding Group.
The LME, owned by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd., will hold an independent review into the nickel crisis, a top executive said on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Eric Onstad and Pratima Desai; editing by David Evans)
