Nickel ore inventories at Chinese ports rose 234,000 wmt to 5.77 million wmt

[11.6 Morning Meeting Notes] The "blue wave" materialized in the US midterm elections, with Democrats reclaiming both the Senate and the House. Multiple US media outlets project that Democrats have secured at least 54 seats in the Senate (flipping 7 Republican seats including Texas and Ohio, with Texas electing a Democratic senator for the first time in 38 years), and the House is expected to ultimately exceed 245 seats. Trump has signaled acceptance of the results and acknowledged that the Iran conflict weighed on the election outcome. Democratic leaders have already stated their intention to seek the removal of Trump's tariffs and end the war with Iran. The market expects that the shift in Congress will constrain Middle East military operations and increase the probability of a US-Iran diplomatic resolution. The most-traded SHFE nickel 2612 contract opened higher and continued to climb in early trading, closing the morning session at 122,250 yuan/mt, up 4.86%, with open interest down approximately 5,400 lots. The Democratic recapture of Congress has reshaped the macro direction for the market, and combined with Indonesia's quota statements, a "Davis double play" drove concentrated short covering by bears. Going forward, attention should be paid to the actual extent of Indonesia's quota cuts to determine the sustainability of the rebound. In the short term, the most-traded SHFE nickel contract is expected to trade in the range of 118,000-124,000 yuan/mt.

India’s Union Cabinet on November 4 approved a "Capex Support Scheme to Promote Critical Mineral Processing" worth INR 28.14 billion (about US$297 million), running from FY2026-27 to FY2030-31. The scheme will back two lithium plants with at least 30,000 tonnes of capacity each and two nickel plants with at least 50,000 tonnes each, all turning ores and intermediates into high-purity compounds. Cobalt will be recovered as a by-product of nickel processing. The subsidy covers 30% of eligible investment, capped at INR 5 billion per lithium project and INR 9 billion per nickel project. Beneficiaries will be chosen through technical evaluation followed by competitive bidding. The government said the plants will serve e-mobility, battery storage, electronics, defence and specialty steel, as concentrated critical mineral mining leaves supply chains exposed.

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on 05 Nov , 2026