The average price of LME nickel in August 2011 becomes clear. According to this, the average prices of LME nickel in August fell to USD 22,083.86 per tonne for spot and cash, USD 22,100.00 per tonne for 3 month forward buying.

During the month, a sharp drop to a level of below USD 21,000 has appeared now and then, and the average prices largely dropped from those of the previous month, but the monthly average remains on a level of USD 22,000.

In August when the classification of the US National Bond has been lowered by one rank, the merchandises with a high risk have been sold on 8th in the beginning of the week, the nickel price also sharply dropped to USD 21,200 from that of the end of the previous week. Furthermore, next day the price temporarily fell to USD 20,200 due to spreading apprehension on China's additional increase in the interest rate.

After that, because of the apprehension on the demotion of the classification for France (August 10th 2011), and weakened Eurodollar and the vagueness of US future economy (August 23rd 2011), this is the month showing the big fluctuation such as the price has been resumed to a level of USD 22,000 and gone down below USD 21,000 sporadically.

The LME inventory level in August continues to increase and decrease due to the price being almost below USD 100,000, and becomes 103,800 tonnes at the end of August 30th 2011. The inventory level has been increased by 702 tons from the end of the previous month.

For a reference, the average July prices of LME nickel were USD 23,731.19 per tonne and USD 23,770.71 per tonne for 3 month forward buying.

(Sourced from TEX Report Limited)