SMM Daily Review – 2011/7/29 Nickel Market

SHANGHAI, Aug. 1 (SMM) -- LME nickel for delivery in three months opened at USD 24,300/mt and closed at USD 24,650/mt last Thursday, up by USD 250/mt from a day earlier, with the highest price at USD 24,700/mt and the lowest price at USD 24,230/mt. LME nickel prices largely fluctuated stably after opening at USD 24,600/mt during the Asian trading hours on Friday, but fell at the tail of the trading and hit a low of USD 24,410/mt. During the early European trading hours, LME nickel prices extended weak momentum, but were still on upward track technically. LME nickel inventories were down by 390 mt to 102,540 mt.

Jinchuan Group raised ex-works nickel prices by RMB 2,000/mt to RMB 178,000/mt on Friday, boosting spot nickel prices to certain extent. Transactions were largely made during the morning trading hours, as trading sentiment was dampened when LME nickel prices slipped during the afternoon trading hours. Mainstream traded prices of nickel from Jinchuan Group were in the RMB 178,300-178,500/mt range, and mainstream traded prices of nickel from Russia were in the RMB 177,700-178,000/mt range. Spot nickel prices were boosted by Jinchuan Group’s consecutive increases in ex-works nickel  prices, but trading sentiment was low due to purchasers’ low price acceptance. Coupled with sluggish performance of LME nickel prices on Friday, overall trading sentiment was lackluster.