Nickel inches up, Tesla leads strong demand

Nickel prices rose on Wednesday as the dollar calms down, with nickel receiving support from electric automakers demand for batteries.

Tesla announced an agreement with Indonesian officials to supply nickel for batteries for the next few years.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has expressed his high interest in nickel and its promising abilities to support battery manufacturing and store energy.

Dollar recently hit 2002 highs on haven demand, in turn hurting the standing of nickel and other metals.

However the dollar is stabilizing, with a modest 0.1% profit today at 103.5.

Nickel spot prices rose 0.7% as of 14:10 GMT to $26.296 thousand per pound.

Analysts expect strong demand on nickel in the next few months, underpinning prices.

Nickel prices spiked past $100 thousand per tone recently for the first time even after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, triggering concerns of a steep shortage.