Nickel charges toward $20,000/ton

Nickel prices rose on Wednesday, extending its gains as concerns about the coronavirus pandemic eased.

Several Asian and European countries, such as the UK, started to see record daily spike in Covid-19 infections due to the Omicron outbreak, which threatens another lockdown and precautionary measures.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki stated that US President Joe Biden does not plan to impose full lockdown restrictions due to the spread of the Omicron variant in several countries.

Psaki added that the Biden administration intends to send free coronavirus tests to Americans' homes, and will deploy medical personnel from the military to back up hospitals.

The dollar index fell against a basket of major currencies by 0.3% to 96.2 points as of 14:42 GMT, after hitting a high of 96.6 points and a low of 96.2 points.

Nickel spot prices rose 2.6% to $19,69.4 a ton as of 15:52 GMT.