The nickel futures at the London Metal Exchange (LME) hiked by US$218 and reached US$15,698/ton on May 6. During the same day, the spot price also increased by US$207/ton to US$15,494/ton. Meanwhile, the inventory monitored by LME kept decreasing by 336 tons to 200,082 tons.

A softer negotiation from the US in trade talks with China lifted overall market sentiment, while ongoing weakness in the US dollar and a continued decrease in LME nickel inventories further fueled gains in nickel prices.

Market analysts pointed out that although Chinese steel production is reducing, the mining sector remains relatively strong due to the impact of Indonesian policies, suggesting that nickel prices may experience short-term volatility.