SMM Morning Review - 2010/12/17 Nickel Market

SHANGHAI, Dec. 17 (SMM) -- According to data from the US Department of Labor on Thursday, last week’s continuous jobless claim was higher than expectation. In addition, building permits, considered an indicator of future construction, fell 4% to 530,000, the lowest since April 2009, and the new homing starts fell by 5.8%. The lower-than-expected data weighed on US dollar. Around 10:00 pm, the US dollar index fell from 80.37 to 80.05. LME nickel prices ended at USD 24,619/mt, up by USD 69/mt or 0.28%, after climbing from USD 24,300-24,700/mt.

Overnight, LME nickel market opened at USD 24,500/mt, reaching the highest at USD 24,700/mt and touching the lowest at USD 24,262/mt. Daily trading volumes were 1,873 lots and positions were 99,264 lots.

With the renewed European debt crisis, a summit of EU leaders will be held in Brussels for two days, resulting in stagnant trading sentiment across the financial markets. SMM believes that LME nickel prices will move between USD 24,500-25,000/mt on December 17th.

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