SMM nickel market morning comment (Feb 22)

Overnight, the most-traded SHFE nickel contract opened at 126630 yuan/mt, and closed at 128280 yuan/mt, up 1710 yuan/mt. Trading volume rose 25945 lots, and open interest decreased by 5577 lots. On the macro front, on February 20, the People's Bank of China authorized the National Interbank Funding Center to announce the latest LPR: the 1-year LPR was 3.45%, unchanged, and the 5-year and above LPR was 3.95%. , lowered by 25 basis points from the previous month. The sharp drop in LPR sends a clear signal that monetary policy will increase to stabilize growth and promote development, further promote the reduction of financing costs for the real economy, and thus helping to boost market confidence and expectations. Therefore, SHFE nickel rose yesterday. From a fundamental point of view, due to the successive resumption of work by downstream producers after the holiday, transactions in the spot market picked up. Nickel price is expected to swing on a strong note.