It may be the hottest commodity around. The onetime darling of hedge fund managers, uranium had looked like missing the powerful rally in commodities markets. Not so.
After languishing at four-year lows, the spot price of the most commonly traded form of uranium, used in nuclear power, has in the past four months risen 45 per cent to $60.50 a pound. Analysts and investors see the move as the start of a multi-year bull run.
The reason is China. Just as the country acted as a backstop to the copper market last year by coming to the market to build a strategic stock when prices were low, something similar seems to be happening in uranium as Beijing prepares for a rapid expansion of China’s nuclear industry.