2014.09.2902:13:52UTC+00Nickel nearing bear market on losing quarter

Nickel is on track to enter a bear market after it fell on concerns over weakening demand from China.

Futures for the commodity metal with a delivery date in three months declined by as much as 2.5% today for a price per metric ton of $16,551, putting on on the path to record a 13% drop for the quarter. It was trading at $16,580 late morning Tokyo time on the London Metal Exchange (LME). Should prices settle below 20% down from $21,000, its closing high last May 13th, at $16,800 it will enter a bear market. Stockpiles of the metal on warehouses monitored by the LME increased to the highest since 1979 at 347,970 tons.

In China, profit levels of industrial companies declined for the first time in two years during the month of August, based on data released on September 27th.

Analyst Kazuhiko Saito from Tokyo’s Fujitomi Co. says that, “Investors are concerned about slowing demand from China amid higher LME stockpiles. The Philippine’s move to ban ore exports will take longer.” Lawmakers in the Philippines filed a bill last week that sought to ban ore exports beginning January 1, 2012.

Copper declined by as much as 0.8% for a price per ton of $6,666 to achieve the lowest since June and put it on track for a losing quarter. Futures of the metal with a delivery date in December on the New York market dropped by 0.6% to a price per pound of $3.016 while it fell by 0.9% on the Shanghai Futures Exchange to 47,470 yuan, or $7,737, per ton.

Aluminum on the LME fell by 0.2% to $1,943.25 per ton, unchanged towards its path to its first monthly loss in eight months. Zinc and lead were mostly unchanged while tin advanced.