London Metal Exchange (LME) nickel prices dropped from US$10,300/MT to US$9,650/MT during Chinese Moon Festival last week. The news of environmental protection of mining in Philippines was bearish and US government didn't raise the interest rate as expectation.

In addition, due to current weak demand, the nickel price has difficulty to go up further. However, the settle price increased by US$300/ton yesterday(Sep. 19). If nickel price didn't lower below than US$9700/ton, it is expected that the nickel price might remain stable.

If down stream customers can reduce their stock level, the nickel price might have some room to hike again.