The metals industry, financial regulators and Chinese officials rushed to resolve a crisis in London’s nickel market, which remained on ice after an ill-fated trade sparked mammoth price gains and billions of dollars of losses.

At the center of the action is Chinese nickel titan Tsingshan Holding Group, the world’s biggest producer of a metal used in stainless steel and electric-vehicle batteries. The company, sitting on $8bn in trading losses, said 9 March it had secured enough metal to settle all its loss-making positions, according to a state-run media outlet.