Nickel Declines Most in Four Months on Signs of China Slowdown

Nickel fell the most in four months in London on concern supply is ample amid signs of weaker economic growth in China, the world’s biggest consumer of the metal. Copper and aluminum retreated.

Retail sales gained at the slowest pace since 2009 during last week’s Lunar New Year festival in China, a Ministry of Commerce statement showed Feb. 15. Nickel, used mostly to make stainless steel, is in “acute oversupply,” Morgan Stanley said today. Inventories of nickel tracked by the London Metal Exchange reached the highest level since 2010 last week. Stockpiles of copper, aluminum, lead and tin gained today.