SHANGHAI, Jan. 17 (SMM) -- LME nickel LME nickel for delivery in three months opened at USD 19,475/mt and closed at USD 19,325/mt, down by USD 150/mt from a day earlier, with the highest price at USD 19,590/mt and the lowest price at USD 19,200/mt. Daily trading volumes were 1,410 lots, down by 1,758 lots. Positions were 119,981 lots, up by 3,084 lots. LME nickel inventories were 92,232 mt, down 2,280 mt from a day earlier.

Weighed down by Last Friday's negative news, LME nickel prices slipped during Monday’s Asian trading hours, but advanced to certain extent to close at USD 19,325/mt during the European trading hours on US dollar index decline.

No solid news came from overseas market overnight. As market gradually digested news that Standard & Poor’s cut credit rating of nine European countries, market sentiment gradually stabilized. Standard & Poor’s announced overnight to cut EFSF's credit rating from AAA to AA+, and set the outlook to negative. It is expected that Standard & Poor’s will restore its outlook to AAA if EFSF’s finances improve. The news exerted limited impact on market, with euro fluctuating narrowly and LME base metal prices closing mixed. China will announce GDP data for Q4 2011 at 10:00 am on Tuesday. If the data only slips slightly than market expectation, it will exert limited impact on base metals. Otherwise, it will strongly affect base metal movements.

It is expected that LME nickel prices will continue to vacillate as market sentiment will be cautious before release of economic data from China. As LME nickel did not fluctuate much overnight, and since trading sentiment was quiet, SMM expects that spot nickel prices will be lower from a day earlier, and will move in the RMB 135,000-137,000/mt range on Tuesday.