Nickel settled down -0.51% at 838.60 swung between small gains and losses in rangebound trade as a strong dollar and concerns about economic recovery in China were offset by expectations for strong U. S. growth. The dollar rose against a currency basket after data showed Tuesday that the U. S. trade deficit shrank to its lowest in four years, thanks mainly to booming energy production, prompting analysts to revise up growth forecasts. A strong dollar makes dollar-priced metals costlier for non-U. S. investors. The latest figures offered investors reassurance that the Federal Reserve's decision to taper its asset buying was justified by fundamentals. Minutes of the Fed's December meeting and the ADP private sector jobs report are due later and will be closely watched for clues on the tapering outlook. Still, metals are struggling to gain traction, having hit its lowest in nearly two weeks on Monday on worries about growth in top consumer China, where the government has issued new rules to strengthen regulation of shadow-bank lending. While Indonesia's mining ministry on Wednesday sought to ease a looming mineral export ban by proposing a regulation that would allow shipments of some mineral ore concentrates to continue until 2017. Indonesian government officials are scrambling to pass regulations to ease a ban on unprocessed mineral ore exports from Jan. 12. Refined tin shipments from top exporter Indonesia rose to 13,562 tonnes in December, up 161 percent from November and the highest in more than two years, a trade ministry official said. Technically market is getting support at 835.2 and below same could see a test of 831.8 level, And resistance is now likely to be seen at 844.5, a move above could see prices testing 850.4.

Trading Ideas:

Nickel trading range for the day is 831.8-850.4.

Nickel dropped as the rising ADP job data for December boosted the US dollar index, weighing on base metals

Minutes from the last FOMC meeting showed that Fed's members saw QE benefits from the slipping and were still concerned about inflation rate.

Markets are focusing their attention on U. S. weekly jobless claims data on Thursday and nonfarm payrolls on Friday.