(Adds Shanghai closing prices, updates London prices)
BEIJING, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Shanghai nickel rose sharply on
Tuesday as supply shortage fears persisted after top miner
Indonesia expedited a ban on nickel ore exports, while market
participants awaited clues on alternative supply plans from a
key conference in Jakarta.
Traders of the metal, which is used to make stainless steel
and electric vehicle batteries, have started arriving in
Indonesia for the Asian Nickel conference.
Indonesia plans to ban nickel ore exports from January 2020.
Nickel prices were also higher in London, at about $18,100 a
tonne, within striking distance of a near five-year high of
$18,850 touched on Sept. 2, when Indonesia confirmed the ban.
"Our nickel bull case of an Indonesian ore export ban before
2020 has become our base," Citi said in a note, revising up its
price forecast for next year to $17,500 a tonne from $14,000.
"We find that nickel spot prices are high enough to accelerate
investment in Indonesia," it added.
FUNDAMENTALS
* NICKEL: The most-traded November nickel contract on the
Shanghai Futures Exchange SNIcv1 rose as much as 3.4%
overnight and ended Tuesday's daytime session up 2.7% at 144,090
yuan ($20,264.40) a tonne. Three-month London nickel CMNI3
climbed for a third session, rising 0.5% to $18,140 a tonne by
0703 GMT after closing up 2.1% on Monday.
* NICKEL: Nickel ore output in the Philippines rose 3% in
the first half of 2019 to 11.31 million tonnes, the Mines and
Geosciences Bureau said, despite zero production at more than
half the country's mines. * PHILIPPINES: Marcventures Holdings Inc MARC.PS said it
plans to develop and put a new mine into commercial operation by
2021, as the Philippine nickel ore producer seeks to take
advantage of Indonesia's ban. * POSITIONING: The net speculative long position on LME
nickel reached 43% of open interest, or 75,000 lots, on Sept. 5,
the highest in two years, brokerage Marex Spectron estimates.
* COPPER: LME copper CMCU3 gained 0.4% to $5,838.50 a
tonne despite weak economic data from top consumer China after
state media said Beijing would create favourable conditions for
private firms and improve the competitiveness of its
manufacturing sector. ShFE copper SCFcv1 closed up 0.1% at
47,430 yuan a tonne.
* CHINA: China's producer price index, a key barometer of
corporate profitability, dropped 0.8% from year earlier, the
National Bureau of Statistics said, the worst year-on-year
contraction since August 2016. * COLUMN: Copper finely poised between negative macro and
robust micro: Andy Home NEWS
* Most Asian stocks swung lower, weighed by Chinese markets
after mainland factory-gate prices shrank. MKTS/GLOB
PRICES
BASE METALS PRICES 0709 GMT
Three month LME copper CMCU3 5834.5
Most active ShFE copper SCFcv1 47430
Three month LME aluminium CMAL3 1803.5
Most active ShFE aluminium SAFcv1 14350
Three month LME zinc CMZN3 2318.5
Most active ShFE zinc SZNcv1 19020
Three month LME lead CMPB3 2092.5
Most active ShFE lead SPBcv1 17415
Three month LME nickel CMNI3 18150
Most active ShFE nickel SNIcv1 144080
Three month LME tin CMSN3 17305
Most active ShFE tin SSNcv1 140770
BASE METALS ARBITRAGE
LME/SHFE COPPER LMESHFCUc3 611.52
LME/SHFE ALUMINIUM LMESHFALc3 -137.75
LME/SHFE ZINC LMESHFZNc3 197.42
LME/SHFE LEAD LMESHFPBc3 -185.09
LME/SHFE NICKEL LMESHFNIc3 -4434.16
($1 = 7.1105 Chinese yuan)