SHANGHAI, Sept. 22 (SMM) – On Wednesday’s night trading, SHFE 1701 nickel opened at RMB 80,850/mt and then ranged at RMB 80,700-81,000/mt. Later, the contract dropped slightly to RMB 80,530/mt and fluctuated between RMB 80,750-80,900/mt before closing at RMB 80,790/mt.
On Thursday, SHFE 1701 nickel started at RMB 80,880/mt. US Fed announced to hold interest rate unchanged on Wednesday night. Moreover, Philippines indicated that many nickel mines will shut down. The contract thus hit a new high of RMB 82,560/mt since August 12 but then gave back some gains. During the afternoon business, SHFE 1701 nickel moved at RMB 81,700-82,100/mt and fell slightly at the tail of trading, hurt by great amount of positions closing by longs. The contract finally closed at RMB 81,700/mt, up 1.45%. Trading volumes were up 255,000 to 653,000 lots and positions were down 3,596 to 493,000.
SHFE 1701 nickel should remain hovering at highs for the short term, waiting for mine closing news from Philippines. But it is not sure that Philippines can release the list on schedule next Monday, considering that they have not released review results on time repeatedly.