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piles on LME as it faces $456 million Elliott lawsuit","pressure-piles-on-lme-as-it-faces-456-million-elliot-lawsuit","article/pressure-piles-on-lme-as-it-faces-456-million-elliot-lawsuit",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":560,"content":570,"excerpt":700,"featured":51,"reporter":701,"_editable":705,"component":706,"seo_title":553,"categories":707,"visibility":713,"author_company":49,"featured_image":714,"seo_description":700,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":719,"formattedArticleDate":720},"1b357ad0-9a5a-4b5f-a7e0-589cf7b9afdc","2022-06-06 00:00",[],[561],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":564},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":565,"image":566,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":567},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":571,"content":572},"doc",[573,580,585,590,595,600,605,612,627,640,645,650,655,660,665,670,690,695],{"type":574,"attrs":575,"content":576},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[577],{"text":578,"type":579},"Hedge fund Elliott Associates is suing the London Metal Exchange for almost half a billion dollars over its cancellation of nickel trades in March, in a case that could raise further questions about the exchange’s conduct.","text",{"type":574,"attrs":581,"content":582},{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":579},"The activist investment firm alleges that the LME’s decision was “unlawful on public law grounds and/or constituted a violation of the Claimants’ human rights,” and is claiming $456 million in damages. ",{"type":574,"attrs":586,"content":587},{"textAlign":49},[588],{"text":589,"type":579},"The legal action will challenge the LME’s decision to cancel trades in early March, which came after it was reported that China’s Tsingshan, a large stainless steel maker, had amassed a large short position on the exchange, betting that prices would fall. ",{"type":574,"attrs":591,"content":592},{"textAlign":49},[593],{"text":594,"type":579},"The LME suspended trading of nickel contracts on the 8th of March following what it deemed disorderly market behaviour as prices surged to a record high above $100,000 a tonne during early morning trading. It retroactively cancelled all trades already made between midnight and 08:15 am that day. ",{"type":574,"attrs":596,"content":597},{"textAlign":49},[598],{"text":599,"type":579},"The surge in nickel prices was particularly damaging to Tsingshan as the company was forced to pay ever more money in margin calls, or close its positions at a loss. ",{"type":574,"attrs":601,"content":602},{"textAlign":49},[603],{"text":604,"type":579},"“The LME Management is of the view that the claim is without merit and the LME will contest it vigorously,” Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, the parent company of LME and LME Clear, said in a statement.",{"type":606,"attrs":607,"content":609},"heading",{"level":608,"textAlign":49},4,[610],{"text":611,"type":579},"Disorderly markets",{"type":574,"attrs":613,"content":614},{"textAlign":49},[615,617,625],{"text":616,"type":579},"After Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February this year, ",{"text":618,"type":579,"marks":619},"nickel prices began to surge",[620],{"type":621,"attrs":622},"link",{"href":623,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":624},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/nickel-price-surges-by-60-as-russias-invasion-deals-further-blow-to-battery-costs","url",{"text":626,"type":579}," as traders feared sanctions on Russia would impact its supplies of the metal, which are used in electric vehicle batteries.",{"type":574,"attrs":628,"content":629},{"textAlign":49},[630,632,638],{"text":631,"type":579},"During early morning trading on the 8th of March, the LME’s nickel contract was trading at a record high of over $100,000 a tonne. The LME made the decision to suspend all ",{"text":633,"type":579,"marks":634},"trading on its nickel contract",[635],{"type":621,"attrs":636},{"href":637,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":624},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/historic-nickel-rally-shuts-down-lme-and-places-tsingshan-in-the-spotlight",{"text":639,"type":579}," from 08:15 am that day and to retroactively cancel any trades that had been made after midnight.",{"type":574,"attrs":641,"content":642},{"textAlign":49},[643],{"text":644,"type":579},"The LME said that midnight was “the last point in time at which the LME could be confident the market was operating in an orderly manner.”",{"type":574,"attrs":646,"content":647},{"textAlign":49},[648],{"text":649,"type":579},"Such a closure was near unprecedented for the LME, which hadn’t suspended trades since it halted its tin market in 1985. Unlike the tin market which was suspended for several years, trading on the nickel market resumed on the 16th of March 2022.",{"type":574,"attrs":651,"content":652},{"textAlign":49},[653],{"text":654,"type":579},"Ken Griffin, founder and head of the investment firm Citadel, has called the LME’s decision “incomprehensibly wrong”.",{"type":574,"attrs":656,"content":657},{"textAlign":49},[658],{"text":659,"type":579},"Through the English High Court, Elliott is challenging the decisions that led to the cancellation of these trades. It claims that by retrospectively cancelling nickel trades the LME was acting unlawfully and/or violating its rights.",{"type":574,"attrs":661,"content":662},{"textAlign":49},[663],{"text":664,"type":579},"The LME denies this, with HKEX stating: “It should be stressed that the LME always acted in the interest of the market as a whole,” and that the “claim is without merit”.",{"type":606,"attrs":666,"content":667},{"level":608,"textAlign":49},[668],{"text":669,"type":579},"New pricing mechanisms",{"type":574,"attrs":671,"content":672},{"textAlign":49},[673,675,681,683,688],{"text":674,"type":579},"Regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, it is clear that the suspension and cancellation of trades has led to ",{"text":676,"type":579,"marks":677},"faltering trust in the LME",[678],{"type":621,"attrs":679},{"href":680,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":624},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/faltering-trust-in-the-lme-leads-to-new-mhp-nickel-pricing-methods",{"text":682,"type":579}," and is pushing market participants to consider alternative pricing mechanisms. Benchmark has noted ",{"text":684,"type":579,"marks":685},"two alternative mechanisms",[686],{"type":621,"attrs":687},{"href":680,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":624},{"text":689,"type":579}," being deployed to price nickel MHP, which is used for batteries.",{"type":574,"attrs":691,"content":692},{"textAlign":49},[693],{"text":694,"type":579},"The first is to use a payable level versus the Shanghai Futures Exchange nickel metal cash settled price. The second is to maintain payables at 90% but to require purchasers to bid on the nickel metal price in an auction process.",{"type":574,"attrs":696,"content":697},{"textAlign":49},[698],{"text":699,"type":579},"The LME nickel prices have fallen significantly since the short-squeeze and are currently at around $29,375 a tonne, about 68% below the price it was trading at the day before the LME suspended trading.","Hedge fund Elliott Associates is suing the London Metal Exchange for almost half a billion dollars over its cancellation of nickel trades in March, in a case that could raise further questions about the exchange’s conduct. The activist investment firm alleges that the LME’s decision was “unlawful on public law grounds and/or constituted a violation […]",[702],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":703},{"job_title":565,"image":704,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},{"filename":567},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"1b357ad0-9a5a-4b5f-a7e0-589cf7b9afdc\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[708,711],{"slug":709,"name":710},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":712,"name":150},"nickel","private",{"id":49,"alt":715,"name":715,"focus":715,"title":715,"source":715,"filename":716,"copyright":715,"fieldtype":717,"meta_data":718,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/5e9ee06535/bm-15099264329-4bed747792-5k-1.jpg","asset",{"alt":715,"title":715,"source":715,"copyright":715},"Jun 06, 2022","6th June 2022",[],[],1792773926922]