N e w s

The beginning of the trading week was market by two records: world prices for paladium for the first time in history have overcome the point of $800, and the rates of nickel contracts have exceeded the mark of $10 000 per ton (it's a five-year maximum). The most intensive growth was on Tuesday in both positions, when after a long weekend american brockers appeared on the Exchange. The major part of transactions was on their side, mostly speculative. The greatest number of professional brockers was on the market of palladium, which is getting more and more expensive for already several weeks. This time, "bulls" have excelled themselves - for the first trading day they have managed to send prices up by almost 10%. Participants of the palladium market have been buying the contracts in panic, apparently, having completely lost their hope for the renewal of metal supplies from Russia.

The reduction of Russian export happend to be the reason for the price growth on the nickel market, but still not the predominant. The bigger role in this process was played by the australian producers, which delayed the supply of metal from several new mining enterprises. Besides, in the connection with the ending of personnel contracts, two leading world suppliers of nickel - Canadian companies Inco and Falconbridg can stop working in their mines in the nearest months. Observers suspect that the renewal of contracts will be accompanied traditionally by the strikes.

Source: Izvestia