Gold Silver Reports — Technically Nickel market is getting support at 582 and below same could see a test of 572 level, And resistance is now likely to be seen at 601, a move above could see prices testing 610
Nickel on MCX settled flat at 589.70 recovered from day’s low tracking ShFE nickel which was up by 0.54 percent firmer, aided by higher steel prices in China. Trader where caution as Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed a former military man as the new environment minister after Congress dismissed his first choice, who ordered the closure of more than half of the mines in the world’s top nickel ore supplier.
In early March, when London nickel was trading above $11,000 per tonne, it was the best performer among the major base metals traded on the LME. Early exuberance has run aground on the shifting sands of politics in the Philippines and Indonesia, two suppliers of nickel raw materials to China’s massive stainless steel sector.
What seemed a straightforward narrative of supply shortfall has become ever problematic in recent weeks. The International Nickel Study Group (INSG) is still forecasting a supply-usage deficit this year but it has just trimmed its expectations and adjusted its deficit calculation for 2016.
Moreover, even if the INSG’s assessment of a 40,000-tonne production shortfall this year proves correct, there is the not so little issue of stocks, both in LME warehouses and in China. Meanwhile the dollar index remains on a back footing at 98.60, even the better than expected US employment report did not provide lift.
The low on Friday was 98.54. The combination of weak dollar-based metals prices and a weak dollar will make metals prices even cheaper in local currencies. Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the French election has boosted the euro. — Neal Bhai Reports
