<article><p class="lead">The London Metal Exchange (LME) plans to resume nickel trading on 16 March, just over a week after suspending activity, and will extend price limits to other base metals.</p><p>The LME will restart nickel trading at 8:00 GMT on 16 March with regular hours scheduled to begin on 17 March. This follows nearly a <a href="https://metals.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2309683">week of inactivity</a> following a spike in prices to over $100,000/t on 8 March. The last official LME nickel settlement was recorded on 7 March at $42,150/t for the three-month contract.</p><p>The exchange will also put in place a 5pc daily price fluctuation limit on nickel contracts based on the previous day's closing price, which is tighter than the 10pc band proposed previously by the exchange. </p><p>All other base metals will also now have a 15pc up or down daily limit as well, a move not previously outlined in the guidelines the LME laid out following the trading suspension.</p><p>All deliveries of nickel contracts will be deferred to 23 March, including any contract previously stating a 16-22 March delivery. </p><p>The LME also lowered its accountability levels for reporting relevant information about trades to 3,000 lots from 6,000 lots previously. </p><p>The exchange said it also plans to consider additional rules and guidelines after comments regarding low stockpiles, which "could be capable of exacerbating situations such as the present one." </p><p>LME nickel stockpiles have declined by 71pc to 75,318t on 14 March from a year earlier. </p><p class="bylines">By Zach Schumacher</p></article>
