You could be carrying some of the day’s biggest exchange traded fund (ETF) rallies right in your pocket.

Copper, nickel and other base metals surged today as the dollar weakened and oil prices crept back up, report Pratima Desai and Julie Crust for Reuters.

Nickel also rose 7.3% on news that Xstrata was suspending operations at its Falcondo ferronickel mining facility in the Dominican Republic. Nickel is mainly used in the production of stainless steel. One analyst says that because of the news, the market should be brought close to balance instead of being oversupplied.

Copper also shot up 12 cents. It has been slightly depressed this year, falling more than 15% since reaching a record high on July 2. The decrease came after markets started pricing in slow demand growth from China, which is a top consumer of the metal.

Lead ticked up 6.2% at the close on Monday after stockpiles earmarked for withdrawal shot up 11% to their highest level since July 2006, reports Chanyaporn Chanjaroen for Bloomberg. The price of lead has fallen 29% this year.

• iPath DJ AIG Nickel (JJN), down 31% year-to-date
• iPath DJ AIG Copper (JJC), down 9.1% year-to-date
• iPath DJ AIG Lead (LD), down 4.4% year-to-date
• PowerShares DB Base Metals (DBB), down 0.6% year-to-date

Tags: Copper, DBB, JJC, JJN, LD, Lead, Metals & Mining, Nickel