LME nickel prices opened at USD 28,705/mt and closed at USD 28,730/mt, up by USD 30/mt from a day earlier, with the highest price at USD 28,850/mt and the lowest price at USD 28,450/mt. Daily trading volumes were 2,197 lots and positions were 108,765 lots.LME nickel inventories were down by 150 mt to 130,098 mt.Cancelled warrants were 4,830 mt,accounting for 3.71% of total inventories.

LME nickel prices fluctuated widely around USD 28,700/mt on Wednesday and closed with slight gains from significant decline of the US dollarwhich closed at 78.191.

However, investors' risk appetite waned amid inflationary pressure from China and other emerging economies and from market concern that rising costs of food may curb significant growth of Chinese economy.Growth of base metal prices slowed down.
Inflationary pressure also emerge in the US. Data showed that core PPI for January exceed two-year high. According to data released on Wednesday, growth of the US new home starts for January was better than expected, while industrial output for January was unexpectedly down. 

At present, LME nickel prices fluctuated around 5-day moving average, with upward trend remaining.Uncertainties occur as recent economic recovery is weighed by inflationary pressure. In this context, short-term performance of LME nickel prices may be affected, and possibility for LME nickel prices to experience corrections is high.At present, LME nickel prices meet resistant at USD 29,000/mt and receive support at USD 28,000/mt.

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