Nickel prices fluctuated rangebound in the morning session. SMM Nickel Spot Cargo Midday Review.

SMM April 2 News: Spot premiums/discounts: The mainstream spot premium quotation range for Jinchuan No. 1 nickel was 1,700-1,800 yuan/mt, with an average premium of 1,750 yuan/mt, up 50 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. The premium/discount quotation range for Russian nickel was -100 to 300 yuan/mt, with an average premium of 100 yuan/mt, up 50 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. Futures side: Nickel prices fluctuated rangebound today. As of 11:30, the closing price was 129,530 yuan/mt, up 0.67% from the previous trading day's settlement price, with a high of 130,120 yuan/mt. Spot premiums/discounts side: Jinchuan brand nickel prices rose 50 yuan from the previous trading day. Recently, nickel prices have fluctuated around 129,000 yuan, and traders have chosen to appropriately increase premiums to protect profits. From a macro perspective, although Indonesia's new tax policy has not been released as scheduled, market expectations for its implementation remain high, providing some support for nickel price costs, coupled with the still tight supply from the mine side. In the short term, there is some room for nickel prices to rise. In terms of the price spread with nickel sulphate: Today's SMM1# refined nickel price was 128,880-131,300 yuan/mt, with an average price of 130,050 yuan/mt, flat with the previous trading day's spot price. The price spread with nickel sulphate remains around 1,595 yuan/mt (Ni contained), and nickel sulphate is still at a discount to refined nickel.