Nickel prices edged higher to Rs 1,218.60 per kg on January 1 as participants increased their long position as seen by the open interest. The base metal traded in the positive territory after a gap up opening.
The US dollar settled modestly higher at 89.89, or up 0.28 percent, on Thursday against a basket of six currencies.
MCX iCOMDEX Base Metal Index was up 30.40 points, or 0.23 percent, at 13,372.22 at 15:20.
“For the month ahead, we are expecting LME and MCX Nickel futures to witness uptrend with reports of higher demand from the battery sector in Germany and Indonesia. Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of nickel ore, a key component of EV batteries, wants to build an integrated EV industry that will eventually include building the electric vehicle,” said Sunand Subramaniam, Senior Research Associate at Choice Broking.
The rising Nickel prices are expected to improve project development in the Philippines, but then, the second wave of COVID-19 and recent lockdown in Europe once again is likely to cap the extreme demand in the manufacturing sector, he said.
In the futures market, nickel for January delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 1,223.00 and a low of Rs 1,212.20 per kg on the MCX. So far in the current series, the base metal has touched a low of Rs 1,190 and a high of Rs 1,333.
Nickel delivery for January contract gained Rs 6.40, or 0.53 percent, to Rs 1,218.60 per kg at 15:25 hours with a business turnover of 2,159 lots. The same for February contract rose Rs 5.70, or 0.47 percent, to Rs 1,224 per kg with a turnover of 71 lots.
The value of the January and February’s contracts traded so far is Rs 270.18 crore and Rs 3.67 crore, respectively.
MCX Nickel price is expected to trade sideways trend having support at Rs 1,212 level and resistance at Rs 1,230 level, said Motilal Oswal.
The base metal price end with a loss of 1.06 percent quoting at $16,587.50 per tonne in London.
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