The three-month futures price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) hiked by US$70/ton yesterday (July 5), closing at US$18,412/ton. The spot price also rose by US$59.5/ton to US$18,411.5/ton.

The current average nickel price of this month is US$18,289/ton, higher than the US$17,981/ton in the previous month.

Meanwhile, LME’s market inventory of nickel greatly increased by 1,188 tons, reaching 232,566 tons. The cumulative increase in July has reached 90 tons so far.

According to market participants, the continuous increase in nickel prices was due to the slightly weakening US dollar, the surged stainless steel output in China, and higher China’s stainless steel futures. However, LME’s nickel stock rebounded after it dropped to a 14-month low. The stock volume should be observed whether to rise further or not.