Nickel advances

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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 percent  to $17,685 per metric ton and was up 8.7 percent  on a monthly basis.

The most-traded May nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 1.6 percent  to 137,530 yuan ($19,115.46) a ton. The contract is up 7.6 percent  so far this month.

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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 percent , due to softening demand and a steady rise in Indonesia output.

LME copper rose 0.5 percent  on Thursday to $8,489 a metric ton, aluminum advanced 0.2 percent  to $2,195.50, zinc edged up 0.1 percent  to $2,418, while lead dipped 0.1 percent  to $2,080 and tin fell 0.5 percent  to $26,425.

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