Australia's metal and mining equities on the benchmark S&P/ASX200 were 1.26% higher at the time of writing.
Nickel miner Western Areas (ASX: WSA) up more than 7% in afternoon trade in the wake of the nickel price reaching its highest point since August on the London Metal Exchange yesterday, at US$13,574 per tonne.
Marex Spectron put the rally down to Mongolian NPI production maintenance and word that Tshingshan's planned nickel project in Indonesia would take more time and capex than anticipated.
Gold and nickel miner Independence Group (ASX: IGO) was up more than 6% this afternoon.
Among the majors, Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) had closed up more than 1% in London yesterday, where the metals and mining sector had finished 0.75% higher in an upbeat day on the FTSE100.
Metals and mining stocks had a similar gain of 0.86% in Toronto where the gold sector enjoyed an overall rise of 0.94% despite a lacklustre gold price.
Acquisitive Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX) finished 1.87% higher.
On the spot market, gold was worth close to $1,329 an ounce last Tuesday but was trading around $1,287/oz earlier.
North American and European market futures were mainly pointing lower and analysts are awaiting US jobs data due out at the end of this week.
