SMM Morning Review – 2012/2/27 Nickel Market

SHANGHAI, Feb. 27 (SMM) -- LME nickel prices opened at USD 20,100/mt and closed at USD 20,150/mt last Friday night, up USD 127/mt from a day earlier, with the highest price at USD 20,260/mt and the lowest price at USD 19,761/mt. Daily trading volumes were 2,335 lots, up371 lots. Positions were 105,364 lots, up 1,314 lots. LME nickel inventories were 97,536 mt, down 282 mt from a day earlier.

LME nickel prices presented weak performance after opening during last Friday's Asian trading hours, but advanced later as Shanghai Composite Index hit new high. During the European and US trading hours, the US dollar slipped significant after the Fed announced that it will not implement new quantitative easing policy in the short term, which boosted LME nickel prices to close with gains at USD 20,150/mt. 

It is expected that the euro versus the US dollar is expected to continue to hover at high level, which will boost LME nickel prices to advance higher. SMM expects that LME nickel prices will move in the RMB 20,000-20,400/mt range, and spot nickel prices will move in the RMB 139,000-142,000/mt range on Monday.