Yesterday, the most-traded SHFE nickel contract closed at Yuan 129,920/tonne, down 0.74%. Stainless steel futures traded in a range. Resurgent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East pushed oil prices higher, reigniting inflation concerns and dampening risk appetite to some extent. Offers in the high-grade NPI market held steady, though transactions picked up somewhat.For nickel ore, Indonesia's domestic ore benchmark continued to trend lower. The benchmark price for Ni:1.6% saprolite ore stood at US $66.64/wmt, with market prices at US $70.64/wmt. Cost support from the mining side weakened marginally, though the pace of decline had moderated in the near term. The IWIP industrial park tendered purchases of Philippine nickel ore at CIF US $45/wmt for 1.3% grade and US $56/wmt for 1.4% grade. Lianyungang CIF offers for Philippine 1.3% grade ore stood at US $47/wmt, unchanged from the previous period.