Nickel prices advanced on Thursday and were on track for the first monthly rise since July last year on worries about supply in Indonesia and Russia.
Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.5% to $17,685 per metric ton by 0339 GMT and was up 8.7% on a monthly basis.
The most-traded May nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 1.6% to 137,530 yuan ($19,115.46) a ton.
The contract is up 7.6% so far this month.
Most of the gain came from last week’s covering of bets on lower prices triggered by fear that nickel would be included in new Western sanctions against major producer Russia.
However, the sanctions did not mention the metal.
Meanwhile, in top producer Indonesia, delays in approving new mining quotas prompted smelters to slow operations and curb output.
Nickel was the worst performer last year among all base metals, falling by around 40%, due to softening demand and a steady rise in Indonesia output.
LME copper rose 0.5% on Thursday to $8,489 a metric ton, aluminium advanced 0.2% to $2,195.50, zinc edged up 0.1% to $2,418, while lead dipped 0.1% to $2,080 and tin fell 0.5% to $26,425.
SHFE copper was nearly flat at 68,860 yuan a metric ton, zinc eased 0.1% to 20,585 yuan, while aluminium rose 0.1% to 18,845 yuan, lead advanced 0.1% to 15,945 yuan and tin increased 0.6% to 217,890 yuan.
All base metals except tin and nickel were set for a monthly decline.
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