SHANGHAI, Jan. 9 (SMM) -- LME advanced after opening during Last Friday’s Asian trading hours, but was weighed down to slip further by a new low of Shanghai Composite Index.

In the Shanghai nickel spot market, mainstream offers of nickel from Jinchuan Group were at RMB 131,500/mt, and mainstream offers of nickel from Russia were at RMB 129,500/mt during the morning trading hours. Boosted by stock replenishment from traders, mainstream traded prices of nickel from Jinchuan Group were in the RMB 131,500-131,700/mt range, and mainstream traded prices of nickel from Russia were in the RMB 129,500-129,800/mt range during the afternoon trading hours. Although LME nickel prices declined steadily, domestic spot nickel prices were still firm and transactions were relatively brisk. The firm prices of brisk transactions of spot nickel were mainly due to pre-holiday stock replenishment by traders.