ASX nickel shares are sliding on Tuesday amid a tough day on the markets for mining companies.
Nickel shares on the ASX include Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX: NIC), Mincor Resources NL (ASX: MCR), Panoramic Resources Ltd (ASX: PAN), and IGO Ltd (ASX: IGO). The S&P/ASX 200 Resources Index (ASX: XJR) is 5.14% lower at the time of writing.
Let's take a look at why these shares are suffering today.
Nickel prices fall
The Nickel Mines share price is down 3.8% today and, at the time of writing, Mincor is trading 4.12% lower. Meanwhile, IGO is 6.45% in the red while Panoramic Resources is down 4.48%.
It seems volatility in world nickel markets is returning with the price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange "moving erratically", Trading Economics reported.
The nickel price fell 1.4% in a day on global markets to US$32,607 per tonne. Shanghai's most active nickel contract also dropped more than 3%, according to a report cited by NAB trade.
This is in stark contrast to early March when the nickel price briefly hit more than US$100,000 per tonne. This led to the London Metal Exchange (LME) freezing trading of the commodity for a few days. In the past year, the nickel price has skyrocketed 96%.
On Friday, Mincor Resources reported it is on the verge of reaching nickel producer status. The company's first nickel concentrate is expected in the June quarter. Mincor has cash in the bank of $84.4 million.
Meantime, Nickel Mines will release its quarterly results on Thursday 28 April.
Share price recap
The Nickel Mines share price has dropped more than 11% in the past year while Mincor has surged 136%. The Panoramic share price has also soared. It's 117% higher in the past year while IGO has rocketed 77%.
In contrast, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has returned 4% in the past year.
