Spot nickel hits high of Rs 1800

Spot nickel prices continued their bull run today and closed at a lifetime high of Rs 1,800 a kg on the Bombay Metal Exchange in line with the metal's trajectory on the London Metal Exchange.

LME three-month nickel today hit a 19-year high of $30,000 a tonne in electronic trade on concerns of eroding inventories in the wake of high demand from steel makers.

A Mumbai-based dealer said the strike at Voicey's Bay mine as well as the World Bureau of Mining Statistics' report that the global nickel market had a deficit of 38,000 tonne in the first six months of 2006 were pushing prices northward.

India spot copper prices, meanwhile, ended unchanged at Tuesday's level of Rs 413 a kg following overnight losses in the LME 3-month copper contract, which witnessed heavy liquidation on news that striking workers at Chile's Escondida mine have softened their demands.