Nov 29 (Reuters) - Nickel prices jumped on Wednesday as
cautious investors and traders closed their short positions
ahead of potential changes in pricing in top supplier Indonesia.
   
    Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange rose
1.3% to $16,975 per metric ton by 0509 GMT, having hit its
highest since Nov. 21 earlier in the session at $17,020.
    The most-traded January nickel contract on the Shanghai
Futures Exchange climbed as much as 5.7%, the biggest
daily gain since July 6, to 132,680 yuan per metric ton.
    "It's a short covering rally and was triggered by a
statement from the Indonesian minister about changing the
pricing mechanism to a domestic benchmark from next year," said
Sandeep Daga, a director at metals analysis company Metal
Intelligence Centre.
    "Incidentally, London court is set to rule today in a nickel
case against the LME," Daga added. 
        London's High Court will rule later on Wednesday whether
the LME unlawfully cancelled billions of dollars of nickel
trades in March last year.   
    Prospects of change in pricing of the metal in Indonesia,
which has mostly been based on the LME high-purity metal
contract, have rattled some short positions holders into closing
their positions, a trader said.
    Nickel prices have been on a downward trend due to an
oversupply concern. The metal is the worst performer across base
metals on both SHFE and LME.    
    LME aluminium fell 0.1% to $2,214 a metric ton, lead
 rose 0.5% to $2,165, tin climbed 1.5% to
$23,670, copper was almost flat at $8,475, and zinc
 was unchanged at $2,537.50.
    SHFE copper rose 0.5% to 68,120 yuan a metric ton,
tin advanced 0.8% to 196,580 yuan, aluminium
fell 1.3% to 18,580 yuan, zinc declined 0.7% to 21,005
yuan, and lead shed 0.3% to 16,095 yuan. 
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 DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
 1000   EU        Consumer Confid. Final                 Nov
 1300   Germany   CPI Prelim YY                          Nov
 1300   Germany   HICP Prelim YY                         Nov
 1330   US        GDP 2nd Estimate                       Q3
 1900   US        Federal Reserve issues the Beige Book  
    
        

 (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; editing by Eileen Soreng)