SHANGHAI, Feb.1 (SMM) -- During Tuesday’s Asian trading hours, LME nickel prices did nit make great breakthrough as China’s Shanghai Composite Index stabilized below 2,300 points, despite that the euro began to rise slightly after profit-taking. During Tuesday’s European trading hours, the weak US dollar index lent support for LME nickel prices to certain extent, but the Greek debt negotiation did not report further progress. In addition, yields of Portugal’s 10-year government bond hit historical high, disappointing market players. Generally speaking, LME nickel prices will be slightly weak during European and the US trading hours, and investors should pay close attention to development of the EU summit, debt action in the euro zone and Greek debt talk. 

In the Shanghai nickel spot market, mainstream traded prices of nickel from Jinchuan Group were in the RMB 146,500-146,800/mt range, and mainstream traded prices of nickel from Russia were between RMB 145,000-145,500/mt. Demand was still quiet during initial post-holiday period. In addition, some traders were reluctant to move goods as spot prices slipped to certain extent along with Monday’s LME nickel price decline. In this context, transactions were extremely sluggish in the Shanghai nickel spot market, and are expected to improve after China’s Lantern Festival.