ET reported that price of nickel moved up by 16% WoW this week against the previous week due to production cuts and investment buying. Nickel futures on London Metal Exchange closed up 16% at USD 12,725 per tonne after making a high of USD 12,844. On MCX, the April contract closed up 15% at INR 633 per kilogram as against last week's close at INR 550.8.

According to base metals analyst Ms Reena Walia from Angel Commodities, stainless steel producers account for around 64% of nickel off take, and they are struggling with new orders which are at all time lows right now. She added that "Severe production cuts have pulled out around 20% of nickel supply from the market and this is the real cause for the rise in prices rather than improvement in demand."

She feels that prices could still receive support as a large number of nickel smelters have announced production cutbacks. She said that "Short term trend in nicked looks bullish. Prices on the LME could trade in the range of USD 11,650 to USD 13,550 and the MCX April contract to trade in the range of INR 580 to INR 675 per kilogram."

(Sourced from ET)