The nickel futures at the London Metal Exchange (LME) hiked by US$100 and closed at US$15,735/ton on May 13. During the same day, the spot price also increased by US$104.5/ton to US$15,541/ton. Meanwhile, the inventory monitored by LME went up by 762 tons to 198,516 tons.

The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.2% in April, falling short of market expectations and leading to a weaker US dollar index. Coupled with the recent reset of US-China tariffs, the development fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve may begin cutting interest rates in the coming months. These factors helped push nickel prices.

However, market analysts cautioned that China’s stainless steel market remains sluggish, and with ore prices staying high, nickel may continue to experience short-term volatility.