New record high for nickel

In the metal markets on Tuesday, nickel hit a new record of $27,800 per tonne before it pulled back to $27,400 per tonne, a gain of 1.1 percent on the session. The gain in the price of nickel was attributed to supply concerns as demand has diminished inventories to very low levels of around one day’s global consumption of the metal. London Metal Exchange inventories were down to 5,808 tonnes, with 3,600 tonnes of that already purchased for delivery. Complicating the supply picture is an ongoing strike at Voisey Bay mine in Canada.

Meanwhile, copper ended the session flat at $7,650 per tonne. Prices were kept from rising by new data from state-owned Chilean miner Codelco, which said that its output in the first half of the year was 853,000 tonnes, up by 4.9 percent. The new data helped soften the news that a landslide at Codelco’s largest mine will affect production in the second half.

Most precious metals ended the day even, but gold was 1.2 percent lower to $621.40 per troy ounce.

Crude oil prices were lower again on Tuesday as the ceasefire between Isreal and Hizbollah seemed to be holding. Brent crude for September delivery was 19 cents lower to $74.11 per barrel, while September contracts for West Texas Intermediate on the New York Mercantile Exchange were down 8 cents to $73.45 per gallon.

Gasoline futures were up even though there have been increased deliveries of Nigerian crude to refineries in the eastern United States. September contracts for Nymex unleaded gasoline were 2.2 cents higher to $2.0125 per gallon.

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