SHANGHAI, Jul. 1 (SMM) -- LME nickel prices advanced all the way to USD 23,175/mt after opening at USD 22,700/mt on Wednesday, and finally closed at USD 23,075/mt, up by USD 425/mt from a day earlier. Due to positive expectation over Greek aid package, base metal pries received support and rebounded back, with prices largely fluctuating above 30-day moving average. The US dollar was still weak during Thursday’s Asian trading hours. LME nickel prices fall slightly to test USD 22,950/mt after opening at USD 23,020/mt. It was reported that Minara, the second largest nickel ore operator in Australia, cut production due to equipment failure, with specific impact on market unknown. Following the news, LME nickel prices advanced further to USD 23,400/mt. LME nickel inventories were down by 648 mt to 107,148 mt.     

In the Shanghai nickel spot market, offers increased, but transactions were not brisk in the morning trading hours. However, arbitrage transactions increased, with the expanding spread between Wuxi Electronic Exchange futures nickel prices and spot nickel prices when Wuxi Electronic Exchange futures nickel prices advanced. Mainstream traded prices of nickel from Russia were in the RMB 165,500-166,000/mt range and mainstream traded prices of nickel from Jinchuan Group were in the RMB 166,500-167,500/mt range. Transactions and trading sentiment didn’t improve to great extent at the month-end.

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