Zhongwei shares issued an announcement last night that, in view of the company's continued optimism in the high nickel matte recovered from nickel laterite smelting, its wholly-owned subsidiary Zhongwei Hong Kong New Energy reached a supplementary agreement with RIGQUEZA to make additional investments in the joint venture PT.ZhongTsing New Energy. The two parties agreed to build a new laterite smelting project in Indonesia (Phase II) with an annual production capacity of 30,000 m of high nickel matte in metal content on top of Phase I project.

The current tightness of NPI, coupled with the upward trend in cost-end prices (mainly rising electricity prices) and the reduction in NPI output caused by power rationing, has made the problem of NPI shortage more difficult to solve.

Barclays commodity analyst Dane Davis is cautious toward copper prices, expecting copper prices to average $5,950 per tonne in Q4 2017, about 10% below current level.

SHFE 1709 nickel started at RMB 84,370/mt and closed at RMB 84,860/mt, up RMB 590/mt or 0.70%.

LME nickel will fluctuate at around USD 10,000/mt and SHFE 1705 nickel will fluctuate between RMB 81,900-83,500/mt.

SHFE 1705 nickel started at RMB 81,280/mt and closed at RMB 80,930/mt.

Barclays Capital revised its forecast for copper and iron ore prices for 2017, wenhua.com reported.

Inbound shipments of nickel ore to China were 1.09 million tonnes in February, up both on a monthly and yearly basis, according to China Customs.

LME nickel will find support at the 10-day moving average on Monday and SHFE 1705 nickel will move at RMB 90,500-91,900/mt.

Nickel ore inventories at seven major Chinese ports dropped at a slower pace last week after a big decline in the week ending February 24, Shanghai Metals Market reported.