SMM Nickel Morning Comments

On January 30, the most active SHFE nickel contract prices opened at 129800 yuan/mt and closed at 127190 yuan/mt, a drop of 2090 yuan/mt from the closing price of the previous trading day. The trading volume decreased by 17777 lots, and the open interest increased by 3839 lots. This shows that the bears were not very sure that the market outlook will continue to fall. The annualised core PCE price index in the United States in December was 2.9%, a decrease from both the previous value and the forecast value. The core PCE price index is a key indicator of private consumption inflation in the United States. The decline reflects the current inflation in the United States cooled down. From a fundamental point of view, downstream stocking came to an end. The transaction sentiment in the spot market has cooled down. That, combined with the arrivals of pure nickel, increased the supply of pure nickel. In summary, it is expected that the nickel price may fluctuate rangebound in the near term.