Feb 12 (Reuters) - Nickel climbed on Thursday, after

Indonesia sharply cut this year's mining quota for PT Weda Bay

Nickel, the world's biggest mine for the critical mineral.

The most-active nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures

Exchange climbed 2.49% ​to 140,570 yuan ($20,366.86) a

metric ton as of 0250 ‌GMT. The Shanghai contract surged as much

as 3.14% earlier this session.

The benchmark three-month nickel on the ⁠London Metal

Exchange rose 0.70% to $17,990 a ton, after rising 2.23%

on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, ⁠French miner

Eramet

said the Indonesian mine had received an initial

mining ‌quota of 12 ‌million wet metric tons for 2026, down from

32 million wet tons for 2025. It said it ​would seek an upward

revision soon.

The mine is ‌a joint venture between the French company and

Chinese nickel and stainless steel giant Tsingshan, and

Indonesia's state-backed PT Antam.

The cut came ​after local media reported on Tuesday ​that

Indonesia has ‌so far approved nickel mining quotas of around 260

million to 270 million tons for 2026.

"The news has boosted market sentiment, and prices ⁠are expected

to remain supported in the short term," said Natalie Scott-Gray,

StoneX's senior ⁠metals analyst, in a note.

"However, it is worth remembering that Indonesia has

historically sought to prevent prices rising sustainably above

$18,000/t, as elevated prices risk undermining domestic EV

sector competitiveness."

Meanwhile, copper also advanced on Thursday, as a weak U.S.

dollar provided ⁠support ‌for greenback-denominated commodities by

making them more affordable for investors using ‌other

currencies.

The SHFE most-traded copper was up 0.45% to 102,390

yuan a ton, and ⁠the benchmark three-month copper also

climbed, adding 0.42% to $13,221.50 a ton.

Among other SHFE base metals, aluminium posted sole

loss, nudging 0.08% lower. Zinc climbed 0.41%, lead

ticked 0.06% higher, and tin rose 0.84%.

Elsewhere on the LME, aluminium added 0.50%, zinc

rose 0.68%, tin was up 0.70% and lead

was unchanged.

Thursday, February 12

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0700 UK GDP Est 3M/3M Dec

0700 UK GDP Estimate ​MM, YY Dec

0700 UK Services MM, YY Dec

0700 UK Manufacturing Output MM Dec

0700 UK GDP Prelim QQ, YY Q4

1330 US Initial Jobless Clm 7 Feb, ​w/e

1500 US Existing Home Sales Jan

($1 = ‌6.9019 Chinese yuan renminbi)