LME Nickel Hits Four-Year Low as 2025 Opens With Eyes on China

  • Rallying dollar could hurt buying power outside of the US
  • Investors focused on China’s embattled property sector

Copper traded 1.1% higher at $8,866.50 a ton on the LME at 11:09 a.m. in Shanghai. 

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
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Nickel hit the lowest level since 2020 and copper steadied near a nine-month low on the first trading day of the year, with investors weighing the impact of a rallying dollar and the scope for additional Chinese stimulus.

Prices for nickel, used in stainless steel and batteries, dropped towards $15,000 a ton on the London Metal Exchange, as the dollar added pressure on industrial metals toward the end of the trading day.