Hong Kong - Nickel advanced a second day and led base metals higher after the dollar weakened and loan growth beat estimates in China, the world’s biggest consumer.
The US currency held losses against the euro after slipping 0.8 percent on Thursday from a 12-year high. A weaker dollar makes commodities priced in the greenback more attractive to investors. Aggregate financing in China was 1.35 trillion yuan ($216 billion) in February, the country’s central bank said on Thursday, above the median estimate of 1 trillion yuan by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
“The reason for the recovery in metals has been the dollar falling and the China loans data,” said Hwang Il Doo, a senior metals trader at Korea Exchange Bank Futures Company in Seoul. “It’s a bit early to say if there is a sustained recovery. We need to see consistent good data from China.”
Nickel for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.7 percent to $14,000 a metric ton at 3:25 p.m. in Hong Kong.