Nickel prices rose on Wednesday, thanks to renewed optimism about the global economic recovery, despite the US dollar's rebound.

Commodities and metals came under pressure recently as the Covid-19 virus is spreading in many countries around the world, which foreshadows a slowdown in the global economic recovery and pausing the return of life to normal.

This came after the mutated Delta variant emerged in some countries, which is characterized by its fast transition and an increased death rate.

But optimism increased in markets after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given full approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.

The dollar index rose against a basket of major currencies by 0.2% to 93.07 points as of 13:40 GMT, after hitting a high of 93.1 points and a low of 92.8 points.

Nickel spot prices rose 1.6% to $19,208 per tonne, as of 13:52 GMT.

US stock indices opened mostly higher on Tuesday, after the release of better-than-expected data, amid focus on the pandemic's latest updates.

Optimism increased in markets after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given full approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.

Data showed today that the US durable goods orders fell 0.1% July, beating forecasts of -0.3%.

The core durable goods orders reading (excluding food and fuel prices) rose 0.7% last month, beating forecasts of a rise of 0.5%.

As for stocks, Dow Jones rose 0.1% or 24 points to 35,342 as of 13:59 GMT, and S&P 500 rose 0.1% or 3 points to 4,489, while Nasdaq rose 0.1% or 19 points to 15,039.

Oil prices turned higher as the US market opened on Wednesday, and hit a 2-week high after preliminary data showed a drop in the US crude inventories, ahead of the EIA's official data later today.

US crude rose 0.8% to the highest since August 15 at $68.16, after opening at $67.61, and hit a day low at $66.95, and Brent crude rose 1.2% to a 2-week high at $71.85, after opening at $70.99, and hit a day high at $70.54.

US crude gained 3.25% yesterday, and hit a 2-week high at $67.78, and Brent crude futures rose 3.6%, and hit the highest since August 13 at $71.24.

The strong gains during the past 2 days came based on hopes of improved global demand, after the US authorities granted full approval for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, while refining activity increased in India

The American Petroleum Institute reported in preliminary data that the US crude inventories fell 1.6 million barrels during the week ending August 20, while analysts forecast a drop by 1.5 million barrels.

The total US commercial inventories fell to 436.9 million barrels, which is the lowest level since the week ending January 31, 2020, in a positive sign of the US domestic demand.

The US Energy Information Administration's official data will be released later today, amid forecasts for inventories to drop by 1.9 million barrels.

While the US output rose 100,000 barrels last week, with the total at 11.4 million barrels per day, marking the US place as the world's largest oil producer.

European stocks rose on Wednesday, after pausing yesterday, thanks to strong market sentiment following record gains in Wall Street.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.15% as of 11:15 GMT, after closing lower by less than 0.1%, the first loss in 3 days.

The travel and leisure sector saw the largest gains in Europe today, with a jump of 1.5%, after positive news about the Covid-19 vaccines in the US.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given full approval for the vaccination of people 16 years of age or older with the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine after its emergency use license in December 2020.

S&P 500 futures fell 0.2% today ahead of Wall Street's opening, after the index ended higher by 0.15% and hit its record high at 4,492.81 points.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.1%, while France's CAC 40 rose 0.3%, Germany's DAX index rose 0.1%, and the UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.2%.