Nickel Futures Rose for Six Consecutive Trading Days amid the Improved Demand, Focusing on the Implementation of the Fed's Interest Rate Hike

SHANGHAI, July 25 (SMM) - Recently, nickel futures rebounded significantly. SHFE nickel rose for six consecutive trading days (July 18-25) and LME nickel also rose for six consecutive trading days (July 15-22). SHFE nickel once rose by more than 3% today and the increase narrowed to 1.8% as of the closing in noon.

Spot market：

SMM1# refined nickel rose by five consecutive days and rose by 1.31% to 185,150 yuan/mt today.

NORNICKEL nickel was quoted at 13,500-14,200 yuan/mt, and the average price was 13,850 yuan/mt, down 900 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. NORNICKEL nickel premiums were quoted at 11,500-12,000 yuan/mt, with an average of 11,750 yuan/mt, down 1,000 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. The premiums of pure nickel continue to decline as some goods arrived in the market.

On the supply side, as the pure nickel futures prices continued to rise, the premiums of domestic pure nickel fell and the market sentiment improved. The SHFE/LME prices ratio of overseas pure nickel continued to recover. Although the premiums of imported goods in the bonded area were relatively high, the profits of spots were good. In terms of NPI, the NPI plants were more willing to hold the prices firm due to the high costs and obvious losses. In addition, as NPI plants reduced and suspended the production, the overall supply was insufficient.

On the demand side, the prices of 201 cold-rolled coil in Foshan increased by 50 yuan/mt and the transactions increased, while that in the Wuxi market did not increase and the transactions changed little. In terms of alloys, although the prices fluctuated widely, the market transactions were relatively good due to the low futures prices a week ago.

To sum up, the nickel prices were greatly affected by the macro factors. However, the supply of pure nickel was tight as the demand increased. The interest rate meeting to be held at the end of this month will be the key to macro sentiment.