Nov 23 (Reuters) - London nickel prices hit their lowest level in more than two-and-a-half years on Thursday, as lingering concerns about oversupply weighed on the market.
Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange fell as much as 0.6% to $16,335 per metric ton, its lowest since April 2021, before rebounding to trade 0.2% higher at $16,475 as of 0754 GMT.
The most-traded December nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was down 3.2% at 127,720 yuan ($17,711.58) a ton. Earlier in the session, it dropped as much as 4.2% to 126,440 yuan, the lowest since September 2022.
LME nickel has declined 46% and SHFE nickel has shed 36 year-to-date, making them the worst performers across the base metals complex on both exchanges.
The global nickel market had a surplus of 155,000 metric tons in the first nine months of this year, up from a surplus of 60,500 tons a year ago, data from the International Nickel Study Group showed.
A supply surge from Indonesia has outpaced demand, causing the surplus.
"Short-term nickel price will still be fluctuating between continued overall surplus and cost support," Jinrui Futures said in a note.
Nickel inventories in SHFE warehouses
LME copper rose 0.8% to $8,423 a ton, aluminium advanced 0.5% to $2,229, zinc climbed 1.7% to $2,536.50, and lead increased 0.5% to $2,232.50.
A weaker dollar helped make greenback-priced metals cheaper to holders of other currencies.
LME tin fell 1.4% to $24,330. SHFE tin hit a five-month low of 200,600 yuan a ton.
SHFE copper fell 0.2% to 68,030 yuan, aluminium declined 0.4% to 18,785 yuan, zinc shed 0.5% to 20,980 yuan and lead lost 1.8% to 16,500 yuan.
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($1 = 7.2111 yuan) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Subhranshu Sahu)