SMM Daily Review - 2011/10/21 Nickel Market

SHANGHAI, Oct. 24 (SMM) -- On Thursday, LME nickel prices opened at USD 18,550/mt and closed at USD 18,150/mt overnight, down USD 497/mt from a day earlier, with the highest price at USD 18,700/mt and the lowest price at USD 17,900/mt. On Friday, LME nickel prices fluctuated narrowly after opening at USD 18,300/mt during the Asian trading hours. Market sentiment remained cautious before the EU summit. Leaders from Germany and France stated that an agreement on expanding the euro zone bailout fund may be reached early next week, boosting market sentiment to certain extent. LME nickel inventories were 86,820mt, down 1,668 mt from a day earlier.

In the Shanghai nickel spot market, spot nickel prices fell further due to Thursday and Friday’s weak performance of LME nickel prices. Although Jinchuan Group’s ex-works prices remained firm at RMB 139,000/mt, traded prices in spot market were already lower than Jinchuan Group’s ex-works nickel prices due to weak demand in the market and from sluggish trading sentiment between cargo-holders. Mainstream traded prices of nickel from Russia were around RMB 134,000/mt, and mainstream traded prices of nickel from Jinchuan Group were around RMB 136,500/mt. Overall trading sentiment was still sluggish. Deals were largely done among traders, with few downstream consumers entering market.