Shanghai base metals close higher; nickel jumps 2.37%, lead up 0.86%

Nickel's outsized move against a broadly firmer base metals board points to a market trading on its own supply narrative rather than shared macro direction, with stainless steel's parallel gain suggesting the strength is concentrated in the nickel chain. The modest copper and aluminum prints look more like drift than conviction. Whether nickel's premium to the rest of the complex persists, or fades as the stainless-linked bid cools, is the open question worth watching.