METALS-Metals rangebound; Shanghai nickel rises on Indonesia's 2025 mining quota

By Violet Li and Mei Mei Chu

SHANGHAI, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Most base metals were rangebound on Monday, as a strong U.S. dollar following robust economic data capped gains and news of Indonesia slashing nickel ore mining quota supported Shanghai nickel.

The dollar began the week strong on a blowout U.S. jobs report that highlighted the world's largest economy's outperformance, with unexpected job growth acceleration and 4.1% decline in unemployment rate last month, prompting traders to dial back bets for Federal Reserve rate cuts this year.

The dollar index =USD at $109.62 was slightly lower than the two-year high hit on Jan. 2.

A stronger dollar makes greenback-priced commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was flat at $9,094 per metric ton by 0119 GMT.

Meanwhile, the most traded nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) outperformed, gaining 1.4% to 127,130 yuan by 0119 GMT, supported by Indonesia reducing nickel ore quota.

Indonesia has set a quota of around 200 million tons for nickel ore mining in 2025, a senior mining ministry official said.

"Indonesia has set its nickel ore mining quota for 2025 at 200 million tons, down from 270 million tons in 2024. This year's quota is expected to be insufficient to meet the demand from nickel smelters," analysts at Jinrui Futures said.

"However, the policy is not yet finalized, leaving room for potential changes. So far, the market reaction to this news has been limited."

The most-traded February copper contract on the SHFE SCFcv1 added 0.1% to 75,280 yuan ($10,266.48) a ton.

LME aluminium CMAl3 remained relatively unchanged at $2,572 a ton, nickel CMNI3 gained 0.2% to $15,685, zinc CMZN3 added 0.3% to $2,876, lead CMPB3 rose 0.1% to $1,976.5, while tin CMSN3 was flat at $29,886.

SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 rose 0.7% to 20,200 yuan a ton, zinc SZNcv1 gained 0.3% to 24,220 yuan, lead SPBcv1 added 0.1% to 16,595 yuan, while tin SSNcv1 fell 0.2% to 251,210 yuan.

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($1 = 7.3326 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Violet Li and Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Sumana Nandy)

((Violet.Li@thomsonreuters.com;))

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