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LME nickel heads for 4th weekly drop on inventory accumulation, profit-booking

London nickel rates slipped on Friday and were on track for a fourth straight weekly loss on rising inventories and profitbooking, while tin was set for a. weekly gain on tightening supply.

Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange. edged 0.5% lower to $17,550 per metric heap by 0818 GMT. The. contract is down 2.7% this week.

The most traded July nickel agreement on the SHFE. shed 1.3% to 137,010 yuan ($ 18,883.35) a ton. The contract lost. has 4% this week, set for a 3rd straight weekly drop.

SHFE nickel stocks << NI-STX-SGH > remained around the greatest. considering that November 2020, while LME inventories << MNISTX-TOTAL >. reached 86,664 lots, their greatest since February 2022.

The rising stockpiles were partly due to Chinese producers. increase output of top-quality cathodes deliverable on the LME.

Investors also booked profit since nickel prices struck the. highest because August 2023 in May, stated CRU analyst Tong Tong,. in spite of enhancing need from the stainless steel sector and. deteriorating supply development in Indonesia in the 2nd quarter.

The marketplace will move into surplus in the 3rd quarter as. Indonesian supply grows. Basically, we anticipate a somewhat. quarter-on-quarter lower rate for the third quarter, he said,. as Indonesian mining quota approval sped up.

LME tin inched up 0.6% at $32,990 and was up 4.9%. for the week.

Regular monthly tin-in-concentrate deliveries from Myanmar are. anticipated to remain low for May and June, said Tom Langston, an. expert at the International Tin Association, including that. improved tin exports from Indonesia had not rebounded strongly.

SHFE tin stocks begun to decline, and tightening feedstock. supply and anticipated smelter upkeep this summer season could. accelerate this drawdown, Langston added.

LME copper was almost flat at $9,797.50 a lot, while. aluminium declined 0.4% to $2,548, zinc dropped. 1.3% to $2,823.50 and lead edged down 0.6% at $2,153.

SHFE copper declined 0.6% to 79,550 yuan a lot,. aluminium decreased 0.9% to 20,565 yuan, zinc. shed 1% to 23,520 yuan, tin dropped 1.3% to 271,300. yuan, while lead rose 0.1% to 18,630 yuan.

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(source: Reuters)