nickel prices soared in asian trading on monday, leading broad gains in base metals as risk appetite improved after the federal bureau of investigation said no new evidence has been found to warrant charges against u.s. presidential candidate hillary clinton. three-month nickel prices on the london metal exchange were up 4.5% at $10,930 per ton, while copper futures rose 1.5% to $5,067 per ton monday. unlike on chinese exchanges, it is unusual to see such a large movement in one day on the london metal exchange. nickel prices have risen about 45% from the start of the year on the london metal exchange. metal prices tend to trade in line with equities, particularly among chinese investors who often use them as a proxy for trading stocks. investors had sold both metals and equities when fbi director james comey told congress late last month that the agency had uncovered new evidence believed related to mrs. clinton<u+2019>s private email server on a laptop belonging to the estranged husband of aide huma abedin. a potential victory for mrs. clinton on tuesday is seen as being less disruptive for markets and therefore more supportive of an increase in u.s. interest rate in december. <u+201c>the investment sentiment in metals has improved after the fbi director<u+2019>s [most recent] statement,<u+201d> said gnanasekar thiagarajan, director of commtrendz risk management. japan<u+2019>s nikkei was last up 1.5%, while hong kong<u+2019>s hang seng index was up 0.5%, south korea<u+2019>s kospi was up 0.7% and australia<u+2019>s s&p/asx 200 was up 1.3%. nickel also got a boost from concerns about production in the philippines, the world<u+2019>s largest supplier of the metal. the philippine government<u+2019>s head of mining is expected to decide soon on the fate of several mines related to alleged violations of environmental rules. robust chinese demand for nickel and other metals on signs of economic stabilization in the world<u+2019>s largest consumer of metals has broadly supported a price rebound from multiyear lows hit earlier this year. <u+201c>metals including copper and aluminum are likely to take their immediate price direction from the u.s. elections,<u+201d> said helen lau, analyst with argonaut research. <u+201c>the controversy over clinton<u+2019>s email use seems to have closed, but the polls are still kind of tight as donald trump has been gaining momentum.<u+201d> copper prices were also lifted by reports that china plans to boost investments in power generation through 2020, ms. lau said, although other analysts say relatively high stockpiles are likely to limit the price upside for the red metal. the latest wall street journal/nbc news poll found that 44% of likely voters support mrs. clinton , while 40% support republican nominee donald trump. mrs. clinton<u+2019>s four-point lead is less than half the 11-point edge she enjoyed in a mid-october poll. gold prices had rallied sharply last week to push above a key psychological benchmark of $1,300 per troy ounce, but are now trading below that level. prices of the yellow metal were down by 1% to $1,290.08 per troy ounce monday. the slide in the price of the precious metal was partly due to positive u.s. jobs data released friday that bolstered the case for a december rate increase by the federal reserve. <u+2014>willa plank contributed to this article. write to biman mukherji at biman.mukherji@wsj.com
nickel prices surge as fbi comments boost risk appetite  - wsj
biman mukherji