June 2, 2022 – The majority of Asian base metals were up today. SHFE Nickel and pure nickel spots are rising. Has LME nickel found its new support line? And the US Manufacturing PMI rises for the 24th month in a row.
Asian base metals mostly up today
The majority of Asian base metal futures are trending higher today. The resumption of work and production in Shanghai after the end of the Corona lockdown has given the market a boost.
SHFE nickel futures are currently up more than 2% and have also taken Chinese pure nickel spot prices with them, rising up to 1.7% to around $33,150 per tonne. Stainless steel futures are up more than 1% and aluminium is up 1.7%. Coke (+3.4%) and iron ore (+3.7%) are particularly up today. HRC futures are also up more than 1.7%.
LME Nickel with new support line?
Even though the LME will be closed on 2 and 3 June, it is worth taking a look at the nickel futures. Nickel now seems to have found a new support line and has been trending well above the $22,000 per tonne (MT) mark since January 2022. In December 2021, nickel was still at just under $20,000/MT.
Nickel prices: Not only since the outbreak of the Ukraine war at a rising level
While the nickel price on 23 February 2022, i.e. one day before the outbreak of the war, was still around $ 24,600/MT, the value on 31 May 2022 was over $ 28,000/MT. This is 17% higher than at the end of February 2022 and a total of approx. 52% higher than the annual average for 2021.
Asian nickel follows the same trend
If you look at the Asian (Chinese) pure nickel spot prices, for example, the same trend can be seen here. Here, too, prices have risen by more than 47% compared to the annual average in 2021.
US Manufacturing PMI remains positive
The situation for the manufacturing sector in the United States continues to look positive, as shown by the May 2022 Manufacturing ISM® Report On Business®.
What was the manufacturing PMI® recorded in May 2022?
The manufacturing PMI® recorded a reading of 56.1 per cent in May, an increase of 0.7 percentage points from April’s reading of 55.4 per cent. This figure indicates that the overall economy expanded for the 24th consecutive month after contracting in April and May 2020.
What was the value of the new orders index in May 2022?
The value of the new orders index of 55.1 per cent is 1.6 percentage points higher than the value of 53.5 per cent in April.
Where was the production index in May 2022?
The production index of 54.2 per cent is 0.6 percentage points higher than April’s 53.6 per cent.
How did the backlog of orders index fare in May 2022?
The backlog of orders index was 58.7 per cent, up 2.7 percentage points from April’s 56 per cent.
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