An export ban by Indonesia and Western sanctions against Russia have boosted nickel prices this year. The iPath Dow Jones-UBS Nickel Total Return Sub-Index ETN (NYSEArca: JJN) has surged nearly 50% while the iPath Pure Beta Nickel ETN (NYSEArca: NINI) was sitting on a 43.1% gain heading into Monday. [Sanctions Against Russia Lift Nickel ETNs]
“Vale, the world’s second-largest nickel producer, was ordered to suspend production at one of its plants in New Caledonia last week, prompting a strong reaction in price and US$5.6mn of inflows into NICK. Nickel is the best performing industrial metal year-to-date, up 40%, following on from Indonesia’s export ban and shrinking Chinese stockpiles. Despite the already large gains, potential deterioration of the situation in the Ukraine could lead to further price rises, said ETF Securities.
iPath Dow Jones-UBS Nickel Total Return Sub-Index ETN
ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post.