Nickel prices trended weaker last week. The most-traded SHFE nickel contract closed at Yuan 119,440/tonne on Friday, November 7, primarily influenced by macro policy developments. While weak U.S. employment data reinforced expectations for interest rate cuts, hawkish remarks from Fed officials somewhat limited the upside trend. In addition, Indonesia suspended the issuance of new permits for nickel smelting projects, restricting production of nickel, MHP, NPI, and ferronickel. New regulations require companies to submit declarations that they will not produce the restricted products, though existing permit holders remain unaffected for now. In the nickel ore market, prices remained firm. The mainstream ore premium in Indonesia held steady around $26/wmt. Regarding recent policies, the Indonesian government's suspension of new NPI and intermediate product smelting capacity approvals is expected to have a limited practical impact in the near term.