In Shanghai, the most-traded July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.4 percent to 51,280 yuan ($8,051) a tonne on Friday as inventories increased, easing worries over a supply shortage in the aftermath of US sanctions on major Russian producer Rusal. In Shanghai, the most-traded July nickel contract climbed more than 2 percent to an intraday peak of 110,200 yuan per tonne, its loftiest since June 2015.
"Markets are less worried of a prolonged deficit as Rusal (is) set to boost aluminium exports after the US relaxed its sanctions against Rusal in late April," Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Vivek Dhar said in a note. "LME aluminium cancelled warrants are now on par with levels before the sanctions were announced, potentially meaning that we could see some stability at these price levels."
About two weeks after imposing sanctions on Rusal, the United States last month gave American customers of Russia's biggest aluminium producer more time to comply with sanctions, and said it would consider lifting them if Rusal's major shareholder, Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, ceded control of the company. The global nickel market deficit widened to 15,700 tonnes in March from a revised deficit of 6,600 tonnes in the previous month, the International Nickel Study Group said.
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