Oil steadies while nickel’s record run continues
Chris Flood

Oil prices steadied on Friday following weakness in the previous session prompted by news that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries had agreed to keep production levels unchanged at its meeting in Vienna.

ICE May Brent dipped 1 cent to $60.67 a barrel while Nymex April West Texas Intermediate added 20 cents at $57.75 a barrel.

Opec raised its forecast for global oil demand growth this year by 0.1m b/d to 1.3m b/d, an increase of 1.5 per cent over 2006. Opec also said it expected demand for the cartel’s crude to average 30.4m b/d this year, up from a previous estimate of 30.25m b/d.

Nickel’s extraordinary run continued as it surged to a record $48,550 a tonne before easing back to $47,400. A move towards the $50,000 level is widely anticipated as critically low and declining inventories means the path of least resistance appears to be upwards.

Copper held steady at $6,550 a tonne, after a jump in the previous session, supported by the return of Chinese buyers to the market. China imported 174,093 tonnes of refined and anode copper and copper alloy in February, a record, and imports in the first two months of 2007 have more than doubled compared to the same period last year.

Gold rose to $651.30 a troy ounce, helped by weakness in the dollar. Dealers said that US inflation data due for release later in the session could provide some further direction for the dollar and impetus to the gold price.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007