Home / Metal News / SMM Morning Review - 2012/5/25 Nickel Market

SMM Morning Review - 2012/5/25 Nickel Market

iconMay 25, 2012 10:25
Source:SMM
LME nickel prices overnight opened at USD 16,791/mt last Friday, with the high end USD 17,090/mt, finding support at USD 16,790/mt.

SHANGHAI, May 25 (SMM) – LME nickel prices overnight opened at USD 16,791/mt last Friday, with the high end USD 17,090/mt, finding support at USD 16,790/mt. Finally, LME nickel prices closed at USD 16,950/mt, up USD 194/mt. Trading volumes decreased by 535 lots to 2,476 lots, and total position was 107,307 lots, up 2,847 lots. LME nickel inventories were 105,510 mt, up 342 mt.

LME nickel prices rose slightly after opening, and maintained upward track despite China's PMI hit a two-month low. As Germany's PMI was poor, and since the number of US jobless claims did not decrease sharply, LME nickel prices finally closed at USD 16,950/mt, up USD 194/mt.

HSBC released China's PMI in the manufacturing sector was 48.7, and Markit's PMI in euro zone was 45.9, the lowest since June 2009, compared to the forecast of 46.0. PMI in Germany and France was also lower than expected, indicating the manufacturing sector continued to shrink. Concerns that Greece will be forced out of the euro zone dominate the market, pushing down global equity, commodity markets and the euro against the US dollar to plunge to new lows. Despite Greece's problems, metal prices continued to drop with rising US dollar index. But the news China will increase fixed assets investments will give support to the market.

LME nickel prices should move between USD 16,700-17,200/mt today, and domestic spot nickel prices should rise slightly to USD 124,200-127,000/mt.

 

LME nickel

For queries, please contact Michael Jiang at michaeljiang@smm.cn

For more information on how to access our research reports, please email service.en@smm.cn

Related news