On December 12, the London Metal Exchange (LME) nickel futures price hiked by US$310/ton and closed at US$16,168/ton on December 12. Meanwhile, the nickel spot price also soared by US$318/ton to US$15,940/ton. The nickel inventory at LME reversed to greatly decline by 2,868 tons to 163,644 tons.

Despite the continued strength of the US dollar, Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources reaffirmed plans to tighten restrictions on nickel production. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) cut interest rates for fourth time this year, and LME nickel inventories experienced a sharp drop, fueling a significant rally in nickel prices. In the short term, nickel prices are expected to remain strong and volatile.