SMM Nickel Market Morning Comment (Nov 4)

Last week, refined nickel prices fluctuated between 122,000-127,000 yuan/mt, slightly down compared to the previous week. During the week, the fundamental structure showed no significant changes compared to the previous week. Last week, both domestic and international macro data performed well, but due to the overall weak fundamentals of nickel, nickel prices were not boosted. By sector, the current market's main speculation point, nickel ore, saw progress in previous RKAB approvals combined with the possibility of temporary quotas being released within the year and the Philippines' continued supplementation of Indonesian nickel ore. Currently, the supply and demand of Indonesian nickel ore remain tightly balanced, alleviating the shortage. Therefore, nickel ore prices declined. From the nickel sulphate side, weak demand combined with inventory at safe levels led to weak purchasing enthusiasm for nickel sulphate from downstream ternary cathode precursor sectors. As a result, nickel salt prices maintained a downward trend during the week. On the NPI side, some traders, affected by financial pressure, conceded prices and began to sell, which, given the relatively sufficient social inventory, also pressured NPI prices. Therefore, under the overall bearish fundamentals, the downward driving force for nickel prices remains. However, due to the impact of the upcoming US election, market speculation sentiment may have a certain boosting effect on nickel prices. Therefore, the expected nickel price range for this week is 125,000-133,000 yuan/mt.