Nickel has slid once again upon Shanghai Futures Exchange's (ShFE) approval of three nickel brands for delivery against its contracts, giving it a six-year-low record that aggravates its reputation among investors and market players.

The three new brands are all owned by Russian giant miner Norilsk Nickel, and it includes Norilsk Combine H-1, Severonickel Combine H-1, and Severonickel Combine H-1Y.

Like Us on Facebook

The approval of a foreign-owned brand, which is a first at ShFE, came on news that domestic supplies could fall in the months to come.

"If you wanted to short the (nickel) contract this gives you more confidence you'd be able to find metal to deliver against your position. I've heard talk there's reasonable volumes (of Norilsk nickel) in China already," said Citi analyst David Wilson.

Last year, Russia was the biggest exporter of refined nickel and alloy to China at 130,617 tonnes. On the other hand, a large percentage of its unprocessed high-grade nickel ore comes from the Philippines, currently the world's largest nickel ore producer.

On Monday, nickel prices continued to drop during the kerb trading on the London Metal Exchange (LME), closing down to a weak $605 a tonne.

Prices continued their descent when it closed to a dismal $US11,730 a tonne, its lowest since May 2009. It ended at $US11,845 a tonne, down 4.9 percent, its biggest one-day percentage fall since September 2014.

In an early trade today, shares in global marker newcomer Amur Minerals Corporation (OTC:AMMCF) soared by as much as 23 percent on news that the Russian company has already released its operational blueprint for its flagship Kun-Manie nickel and copper mining project.

Amur's current Net Present Value (NPV) for the Kun-Manie mine, a measure of profitability for the project, is now projected to be between $0.71 billion and $1.44 billion.

The looming Greek bailout issue, intensified by the rising dollar value against euro, continues to send bad signals to investors.

A dollar with higher value makes dollar-priced metals more expensive for investors using foreign currencies.

Also, China's fourth interest rate cut since November has created an anxiety on the market.

"As a sign of that weakness, futures contracts for steel rebar traded in China on the Shanghai Futures Exchange-a benchmark for steel demand-fell 3 per cent to a record low Monday. As Chinese equity markets continue to fall there remains considerable uncertainty over demand from China's property market, and how much commodities will benefit from a shift towards more consumption driven growth," The Financial Times trading report says.

Conversely, Patricia Mohr of Scotiabank believes that nickel prices could improve slightly before the year ends, although this improvement is not enough to make it as relevant as it was last year.

Nickel was hailed by economists as the best performing industrial metal for the year 2014.

Tagsnickel commodities, Nickel Shanghai Futures Exchange, Norilsk Nickel, China approves Norilsk Nickel to trade, Russia alternatives, Amur Minerals, domestic supplies of nickel in China