SMM Nickel Market Morning Comment (Mar 28)

Overnight, the most-traded SHFE nickel contract opened at 131,430 yuan/mt, and closed at 129,510 yuan/mt, down 2,270 yuan/mt. Trading volume rose 53,830 lots, and open interest decreased by 1,249 lots. From a macro perspective, the US Fed has kept the upper limit of its interest rate at 5.5%. The Fed once again maintained interest rates unchanged. Powell's speech has not disclosed when to cut interest rate. This interest rate decision will have little impact on the market. Fundamentally, the progress of nickel ore approval accelerated and production of intermediate product projects in Indonesia ramped up. The market's expectations for tight supply of raw materials began to weaken. On the other hand, affected by the sharp drop in nickel prices, transactions in the spot market picked up, and downstream purchasing sentiment recovered. Nickel price is expected to go down.