SHANGHAI, May 5 (SMM) -- LME nickel prices opened at USD 25,500/mt last Friday, and closed at USD 26,450/mt, with highest price at USD 26,469/mt and lowest price at USD 25,400/mt. Daily trading volumes were 2,138 lots and positions were 96,898 lots.

Most LME base metal prices were closed with gains last Friday and were up USD 950/mt from a day earlier, which is mainly boosted by rebound of euro, positive GDP data from the US and the fact that an agreement on Greece bailout is going to be reached. The US Department of Commerce announced last Friday that the US initial annual rate of GDP was up 3.2% in 1Q, and the previous estimation was 3.4%. University of Michigan consumer confidence index was 72.2 in April, and the previous estimation was 71.0. Market still concerned over the possibility of the sovereign debt defaults, but the steady decline of LME nickel inventories indicated that the actual demand in the market is improving, which helped support LME nickel prices.

It is expected that LME nickel prices will move in the USD 25,400-26,500/mt range today.

To contact the writer on this report: cracewu@smm.cn

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