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HKEX and LME look to tap ‘incredible opportunities’, restore confidence after winning legal battle over nickel trades

  • ‘It is time to look forward to the incredible opportunities ahead and the key role that the LME will continue to play in the pricing of the metal,’ says HKEX chief
  • Hong Kong-based brokers believe the ruling will allow HKEX to develop its commodities trading business

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Traders work on the floor of the London Metal Exchange in London. Photo: Reuters
Enoch Yiu
The London Metal Exchange and its parent, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), are ready to move forward and reboot investor confidence after winning a legal battle against American financial firms over cancelled nickel trades last year.
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“It is now time to look forward to the incredible opportunities ahead and the key role that the LME will continue to play in the pricing of the metal that will shape the industries and technologies of tomorrow,” said Nicolas Aguzin, the chief executive officer of HKEX, in a statement after the court ruling.
Two London High Court judges ruled on Wednesday that the LME could cancel trades in exceptional circumstances and dismissed all claims made against it by US hedge fund Elliott Associates and market maker Jane Street Global Trading.

The ruling quashed the financial firms’ demand for US$472 million in compensation from the LME after it cancelled billions of dollars worth of nickel trades in March last year when prices shot up by more than 270 per cent to record levels above US$100,000 per metric ton in just three days following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The rapid price movement squeezed dozens of short-sellers, including the world’s largest stainless steel producer, Tsingshan Holding Group of China.

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HKEX CEO Nicolas Aguzin on the future of Hong Kong’s capital market

HKEX CEO Nicolas Aguzin on the future of Hong Kong’s capital market

Aguzin said the ruling proved that the LME and its CEO, Matthew Chamberlain, had “acted throughout with the utmost integrity, placing the interest of the market as a whole front and centre at all times.”

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