Nickel declines as Indonesia considers selling more mining shares

Nickel prices fell on Wednesday after Indonesia said it’s preparing to sell more mining shares to investors, which would increase supplies. 

Nickel three-month futures at the London Metals Exchange fell 0.6% yesterday to $17,060 a tonne. 

Nickel March futures fell 1.5% on Tuesday at the Shanghai Futures Exchange to 132,430 yuan per tonne. 

Prices were boosted last week as the US imposed new sanctions on Russian exports, while the issuance of mining shares in Indonesia slowed down and stymied supplies. 

However, the US sanctions on Russia didn’t touch metals, including nickel supplies. 

Officials at Indonesia’s mining ministry said it issued approvals for mining shares representing 145 million tonnes of nickel among other metals. 

Otherwise, the dollar index rose 0.1% as of 15:21 GMT to 103.9, with a session-high at 104.2, and a low at 103.8.

Nickel spot prices fell 0.3% in American trade as of 15:34 GMT to $17.018 thousand a tonne.