SMM Daily Review - 2012/3/15 Nickel Market

SHANGHAI, Mar. 16 (SMM) -- During Thursday’s Asian trading hours, LME nickel prices fluctuated narrowly above 5-day moving average due to absence of solid news. During the European and US trading hours, although LME nickel prices were relatively weak due to strong rally of US dollar which is pointing to 81 and meeting strong resistance above after previous steady climb, LME nickel prices were resilient and did not fall sharply compared to other base metals. Currently, LME nickel prices are above 5-day and 10-day moving average, with short term support and limited room to fall further.

During the morning trading hours in the Shanghai nickel spot market, mainstream traded prices of nickel from Jinchuan Group were between RMB 137,700-138,000/mt, and mainstream traded prices of nickel from Russia were in the RMB 136,800-137,000/mt range. During the afternoon trading hours, spot nickel prices fell slightly amid LME nickel price decline and sluggish downstream demand, with traded prices of Jinchuan nickel between RMB 137,500-138,000/mt and traded prices of Russian nickel between RMB 136,600-136,900/mt. Transactions were still cautious and trading volumes were moderate.