On August 6, the London Metal Exchange (LME) nickel futures prices on August 6 increased by US$98/ton and closed at US$15,122/ton. After turning upward yesterday, nickel prices have increased by a total of US$186 this month, marking a 1.03% rise.

Nickel prices rebounded following weaker-than-expected job growth in the US for July and a sharp downward revision of 258,000 jobs in non-farm payroll data for the previous two months. The data indicated a significant deterioration in the labor market, prompting the US dollar to reverse and weaken, and raising market expectations of a potential interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September, further causing the nickel price to rebound.

Despite the price rebound, market participants pointed out that the fundamentals of the nickel market remain weak. The continued increase in pure nickel inventories might cause nickel to remain in a phase of volatile movement in the short term.