Three month nickel closed Friday's trading session at $5.50/lb.

Indicators at 6:25 am CST today show 3 month nickel trading around $.08/lb lower. Stockpiles of nickel stored in LME approved warehouses rose on Thursday and fell on Friday and start the last week of 2017 just over the 372,250 tonne level. Stockpiles are now only ahead of 2017's first day by 192 tonnes, and thus it appears traders will pull off a deficit for the year. Nickel saw a decent little jump Friday morning, but this morning traders have cast a wary eye toward China, as steel prices there continue to flounder. We suspect markets will remain somewhat subdued this week, as traders square their books. However, last year, nickel fell from $5.00/lb to near $4.50/lb over the last 10 days of that year, so we could be proven wrong easily. Industry news remains quiet. Technical remain positive, with resistance at $5.55/lb and the 10 day MVA back above the 30 and 100 day.

Average price of cash nickel so far this month - $5.12/lb.
Average price of LME traded nickel in 2017(1st half) - $4.43/lb / 2016 - $4.36/lb / 2015 - $5.37/lb / 2014 - $7.65/lb / 2013 - $6.80/lb /.