Nickel settled down -1.18% at 890.90 as dropped seen after the flash HSBC's China manufacturing PMI for February released overnight continued to fall, putting downward pressure on base metals markets. Bearish news out of China on Thursday put a dent in markets. The preliminary HSBC's China manufacturing PMI touched during February a fresh 7-month low of 48.3, well below January's 49.5. The sub-indices including manufacturing output and new orders both set 7-month lows as well. In addition, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted in Thursday's morning another round of 14-day repurchase agreement worth RMB 60 billion, up RMB 12 billion from Tuesday's scale. The commonly worse-than-expected economic data from European countries gave a boost to the US dollar. The euro zone's February manufacturing and composite PMIs were 53 and 52.7, respectively, both hitting 2-month lows. Germany's February manufacturing PMI edged lower to 54.7, but the nation's composite PMI rose to a 32-month high of 56.1. France's manufacturing and composite PMIs for February fell to 2-month lows of 48.5 and 47.6, respectively. In the US, the Markit manufacturing PMI for February reached 56.7, beating January's level and forecasts, but the Philadelphia Fed's PMI was only -6.3 during the same period, below January's 9.4. New claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending on February 15 were 336,000, slightly higher than the estimated 335,000 but down 3000 from previous week's reading, a sign of small recovery in labor markets. Technically market is under long liquidation as market has witnessed drop in open interest by -3% to settled at 5367 while prices down -10.6 rupee, now Nickel is getting support at 887.1 and below same could see a test of 883.4 level, And resistance is now likely to be seen at 897.5, a move above could see prices testing 904.2.

Trading Ideas:

Nickel trading range for the day is 883.4-904.2.

Nickel declined after data showed that manufacturing activity in China fell to a seven-month low in February.

Core CPI increased at annualized rate of 1.6% in January, down from 1.7% in December and in line with expectations.

Data showed that China's HSBC Flash Purchasing Managers Index fell to 48.3 in February from a final reading of 49.5 in January