Nickel Rose after a Smelter in North China has Suspended Refined Nickel Production

Nickel yesterday settled up by 0.5% at 1439.9 after a smelter in north China has suspended refined nickel production recently due to high production costs. The demand and supply gap still exists on the fundamentals, and the market shall pay attention to the demand scenario of stainless steel and new energy sectors. The global nickel market deficit narrowed to 20,100 tonnes in June compared to a shortfall of 23,600 tonnes in May, data from the International Nickel Study Group (INSG) showed. During the first six months of the year, the nickel market saw a deficit of 86,700 tonnes compared with a surplus of 74,200 tonnes in the same period last year, the Lisbon-based INSG added.  
 
Jilin Jien Nickel, a nickel producer in northeast China, has halted the output of nickel cathodes because they are no longer profitable. China, the world's biggest metals consumer, has very few companies still making nickel cathodes as smelters instead choose to produce nickel sulphate, a chemical used in the burgeoning electric vehicle battery sector. China’s central bank injected billions of yuan through medium-term loans into the financial system, which many market participants interpreted as an effort to prop up the economy, although the cost of such borrowing was left unchanged.  
 
Technically market is under fresh buying as the market has witnessed a gain in open interest by 28% to settled at 1225 while prices up 7.2 rupees, now Nickel is getting support at 1434 and below same could see a test of 1428 levels, and resistance is now likely to be seen at 1446.6, a move above could see prices testing 1453.2.  

Trading Ideas:
# Nickel trading range for the day is 1428-1453.2.
# Nickel prices rose after a smelter in north China has suspended refined nickel production recently due to high production costs.
# Chinese nickel producer Jien halts cathode output
# China central bank offers more medium-term loans than expected to cushion the economic slowdown