SHFE 1609 Nickel Ends Up 0.24% (2016-4-19)

SHANGHAI, Apr. 19 (SMM) – On Monday’s night trading, crude oil price rally allowed SHFE 1609 nickel to shoot up to RMB 72,160/mt after opening at RMB 71,300/mt. Worker strike in Kuwait pushed crude oil prices up. SHFE 1609 nickel then moved at RMB 71,600-72,100/mt before ending at RMB 71,800/mt.    

On Tuesday, SHFE 1609 nickel briefly climbing to RMB 72,090/mt after opening at RMB 71,810/mt, but then fell back to below RMB 71,000/mt as longs began exiting. The most active contract was dragged down by other base metals to near RMB 70,000/mt later in the day, but then recovered some earlier losses following rise of LME nickel and rebar prices. Finally, it ended up 0.24% from previous day at RMB 71,010/mt. Trading volumes were up 258,000 lots to 1.05 million lots, and positions were up 33,246 to 555,000. Stainless steel prices rose on positive Chinese economic data, offering support for nickel prices. But downstream buying cooled a lot after prices rose. End-user demand remains the biggest concern. These will keep nickel prices in check.