Tue Mar 15, 2011 1:29pm EDT
By Eric Onstad
LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - The spot uranium price fell 9.8 percent to $60.00 per lb in the week to Monday after a crisis hit Japan's nuclear sector in the wake of a devastating earthquake, UX Consulting said on Tuesday.
The price of uranium oxide fell from $66.50 the previous week, the biggest weekly drop since the global financial crisis in late 2008, UXC said in a report.
The market was on edge after surging 76 percent over six months to a peak in early February of $73 per pound, it said.
"It is thus not surprising that the market reacted the way that it did to the news out of Japan, which was a complete shock and certainly one of the most significant events in the history of the market," the report said.
Japan faced a potential catastrophe after a quake-crippled nuclear power plant exploded and sent low levels of radiation floating towards Tokyo. [ID:nLDE72D2FT]
Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged people within 30 km (18 miles) of the facility to remain indoors amid the world's most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.
Analysts told Reuters on Monday that uranium prices were expected to slide as speculators cash out and confidence in
Read more:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/uranium-price-idUSLDE72E2EB20110315
