SHFE and LME Nickel Continued to Fell amid the Negative Effect of Macro Factors

SHANGHAI, June 22 (SMM) - Recently, affected by factors such as US Fed interest rate hikes and inventory problem, nickel prices dropped since June 9. As of June 22, the nickel prices only rose on Thursday and Tuesday, with a slight increase of 0.63% and 0.74% respectively. As of 16:26, SHFE nickel fell by 4.25% to a new low of 190,010 yuan/mt since March 3 and LME nickel fell by 4.02% to a new low of $25,000/mt since March 1.

In the spot market today, SMM1# refined nickel average spot price fell by 2.81% to 205,550 yuan/mt. On June 22, Jinchuan nickel were quoted at 11,000-11,000 yuan/mt, with an average price of 11,000 yuan/mt, down 250 yuan/mt from yesterday. NORNICKEL nickel was offered at 5,500-5,500 yuan/mt, and the average price was 5,500 yuan/mt, down 250 yuan/mt from yesterday. The spot prices declined today mainly because the slight decline in futures prices and the slight decline in premiums amid the poor transactions.

According the SMM, on the supply side, affected by the delivery of the SHFE 2206 nickel contract, the delivered nickel plates circulated to the market. As the overseas pure nickel spot remained profitable and some overseas nickel plates arrived, the tight supply of pure nickel improved slightly.

On the demand side, due to the periodic reduction of downstream procurement, the purchases were less than expected this week. Under the premise of weak demand, the supply side was slightly loose due to the impact of overseas pure nickel customs clearance. The warrants inventories of SHFE fell to a historical low, giving nickel prices some support. To sum up, the pure nickel supply and demand changed little and the nickel prices are expected to fall slightly in the short term amid the negative effect of macro factors.