India Nickel Scrap prices stay flat; Fall in Chinese equities influence MCX Nickel

INDIA February 24 2016 12:26 PM

MUMBAI (Scrap Register): India's major nickel scrap prices stayed flat on Scrap Register Price Index as on Tuesday in line with nickel futures prices at India's Multi Commodity Exchange as a fall in Chinese equities and the central banks's setting of a lower fix for the yuan currency reinforced concerns about the economy and demand growth in the top consumer.

According to the Scrap Register Price Index, the major nickel scrap commodities like nickel cathode, nickel indco Canada (4X24), nickel indco Canada (4X4), nickel plate(4x24), nickel plate(9x9), nickel Russian (4X24), nickel Russian(4x4), nickel Russian(9x9) showed a flat trend on Tuesday.

In futures, the most active February nickel contract on Multi Commodity Exchange settled down by 1.2% to Rs. 592.40 per kilogram on Tuesday from previous close of Rs. 599.10 per kilogram. The MXC nickel prices touched an intra-day high of Rs. 600.80 per kilogram and an intra-day low of Rs. 588.60 per kilogram during Tuesday.

However, Nickel was the top performer in base metals complex at the London Metal Exchange last week with over 10% bounce as Chinese buyers sought to import more metal to put on financing deals after prices were heavily sold over the Lunar New Year.

Inventories of nickel ore at six major Chinese ports kept falling during the first trading week after the 2016 Chinese New Year holiday. Nickel ore inventories at the six ports were 8.41 million tons last week, down 150,000 tons from the pre-holiday level.

(This article is researched and compiled by Vibin Antony on behalf of Scrap Register. Send in your suggestions and comments to editor@scrapregister.com)