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Metals rangebound; Shanghai nickel increases on Indonesia's 2025 mining quota

Most base metals were rangebound on Monday, as a strong U.S. dollar following robust economic data topped gains while news of Indonesia slashing nickel ore mining quota supported Shanghai nickel.

The dollar started the week strong on a blowout U.S. jobs report that highlighted the world's largest economy's. outperformance, with unexpected task growth velocity and a. decrease in unemployment rate last month, triggering traders to. dial back bets for Federal Reserve rate cuts this year.

The dollar index at $109.62 was slightly lower than. the two-year high hit on Jan. 2.

A more powerful dollar makes greenback-priced commodities more. costly for holders of other currencies.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange. ( LME) was up 0.3% to $9,118 per metric heap by 0302 GMT.

China's imports of unwrought copper and copper products. reached a 13-month high in December, increasing 17.8% year-on-year. to 559,000 metric tons, according to customs data released on. Monday.

On the other hand, the most traded nickel agreement on the Shanghai. Futures Exchange (SHFE) exceeded, gaining 1.6% to 127,350. yuan ($ 17,369.78) by the end of Asia early morning trade session,. supported by Indonesia minimizing nickel ore quota.

Indonesia has actually set a quota of around 200 million loads for. nickel ore mining in 2025, a senior mining ministry authorities. said, down from 270 million tons in 2024.

This year's quota is expected to be inadequate to meet. the demand from nickel smelters, analysts at Jinrui Futures. said.

However, the policy is not yet finalized, leaving space for. possible changes. So far, the market response to this news has. been limited.

The most-traded February copper agreement on the SHFE. included 0.3% to 75,410 yuan a load.

LME aluminium increased 0.2% to $2,575 a lot, nickel. was reasonably the same at $15,665, zinc included. 0.1% to $2,871, lead fell 0.1% to $1,974, while tin. included 0.6% to $30,050.

SHFE aluminium increased 0.6% to 20,165 yuan a lot, zinc. acquired 0.2% to 24,200 yuan, lead added 0.5% to. 16,545 yuan, while tin fell 0.1% to 251,480 yuan.

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(source: Reuters)