LME is investigating the delay in the release of inventory data

LME failed to release metal warehouse order data closely watched by the market on Wednesday, another technical glitch that LME has suffered since the nickel forced positions in early March.

Recently, metal inventories in LME delivery warehouses have been falling sharply, making traders highly alert to the potential for forced positions. LME usually issues daily inventory reports at 9am (UK time) every day, which tends to trigger wild swings in futures prices as investors react to changes in spot supply, particularly with the sharp outflow of zinc stocks in recent weeks, sparking concerns about tight zinc supplies.

LME finally released its daily inventory report at 10:30 LME did not comment publicly on the delay, but earlier on Wednesday, the exchange sent emails to major members, software vendors and business contacts, saying it was investigating the reasons for the delay. This marks the latest in a series of technical setbacks that LME has suffered recently. One of them occurred on the first day of nickel trading during the LME recovery period, when some orders traded below the stop price.

Check the spot quotation for SMM nickel products

On March 8, after current nickel jumped from $50, 000 to more than $100000 in just a few hours, LME halted nickel futures trading and then announced that it had cancelled all transactions for the day, a move that sparked fierce controversy. Britain's financial regulator has announced that it will launch a rare regulatory investigation into the way the exchange handled the nickel crisis.

Concerns about tight zinc supplies grew this month as institutions such as Trafigura withdrew large amounts of inventory from LME delivery warehouses, pushing zinc to an all-time high. Delayed inventory data showed that zinc stocks in LME-registered warehouses were 45925 tons on Wednesday, the same as the previous day.

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