LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - The London Metal Exchange will not restart the trading of nickel contracts on Friday as it had anticipated because the criteria for restarting have not been met, the exchange said in a members notice on Thursday.
LME was forced to halt nickel trading and cancel trades after prices soared over $100,000 per tonne on Tuesday in a surge blamed on short covering by one of the world's top producers.
"In relation to netting off long and short positions, the initial responses indicated limited potential uptake, particularly from those with short positions, and considerable differences in view on the appropriate price," the exchange said.
"However, the LME is continuing to explore this with the market," it added.
LME's CEO called for it to have more powers to intervene, after the halt.
The exchange added that it is working on appropriate operational procedures for a safe reopening, which includes in particular price bands, both for nickel and for all other physically deliverable contracts. (Reporting by Pratima Desai; additional reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad; Editing by Diane Craft and Will Dunham)