The short speculative position on the LME reached 20% of open interest by Friday's close, the largest since July 2022, but shorts have recently been closing out some positions, broker Marex said in a report.
Nickel prices jumped on Friday after data showed that nickel inventories in warehouses linked to the Shanghai Futures Exchange slid 28% during the week to their lowest since July last year. On the LME, the nickel cash contract discount to three-month futures has tumbled to $179 a tonne from $333 over the past three sessions, indicating concern about short-term supply. LME three-month copper rose 0.2% to $8,985.50 a tonne, helped by easing concern about the health of the banking sector and firmer risk appetite, Bhar said.
Downstream copper demand in China dropped slightly last week owing to "overseas macro factors" and rising prices, Huatai Futures analysts said in a note. LME aluminium climbed 1% to $2,387.50 a tonne, zinc gained 0.6% to $2,930, tin was up 1.2% at $25,725 and lead dipped 0.4% to $2,125.50.
For the top stories in metals, click (Reporting by Eric Onstad Additional reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila Editing by Ed Osmond and David Goodman)
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