Gold Silver Reports – MCX Nickel Above 845 Only Fresh Buying — Technically Nickel market is under fresh buying as market has witnessed gain in open interest by 3.51% to settled at 6635.
MCX Nickel is getting support at 849.6 and below same could see a test of 837.3 level, And resistance is now likely to be seen at 872.1, a move above could see prices testing 882.3.
Nickel on MCX settled up 2.46% at 861.9 helped by a weaker dollar tracking a broad recovery in global equities. China’s top steelmaking city of Tangshan said it would extend restrictions on production beyond the end of the winter heating season on March 15.
Indonesia shipped 22 vessels, or 1.25 million wmt, of nickel ore to China in January, according to data. China produced 10,200 mt of refined nickel in January, down 15.8% from the same month last year, data showed.
This was mostly due to output cut and some production shift to nickel sulfate. The volume was also down 32.5% from levels registered in December 2017, as consumption entered off-peak season when Chinese New Year was around the corner.
In addition, the fire incident at Jinchuan Group also contributed to the output drop. Nickel ore exports from the Philippines are expected to stand at 830,000 wmt in January, according to data. This translated to 7,100 mt in metal content, down 66% from levels seen in December.
China’s nickel pig iron (NPI) production in January stood at 36,900 mt, down 8.6% month on month but up 7.6% from January 2017, data showed. The drop from December was mostly due to maintenance work at major ageing NPI plants and cold weather in the north.
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In addition, some integrated stainless steel mills have cut their production on poor stainless steel sales. Shanghai Futures Exchange said it will quintuple the intraday transaction fee on its nickel futures contract for May delivery. – Goldman Neal Bhai Reports
