Kremlin said Putin spoke with the Saudi crown prince.

Smelters at Indonesia's Morowali Industrial Park on Sulawesi were told last weekend to cut nickel pig iron (NPI) output after an El Nifio-driven drought reduced water available for cooling and equipment protection, people familiar said. The reduction could total about 100,000 tonnes of NPI. Wood Mackenzie estimates the park's annual installed NPI capacity at roughly 4.2 mln tonnes (about 350,000 t/month). The cut may help curb recent weakness in nickel; LME nickel is down about 18% from its early-May peak.

Reserve Bank of Australia deputy governor Hunt said on a podcast the bank may need to raise rates for a fourth time this year to ensure inflation is contained, highlighting market bets on a rate rise as soon as next week. She said the board is concerned inflation could remain too high and become embedded in pricing, citing higher energy costs from the Middle East conflict and signs that domestic demand is outstripping supply. The board could decide it must lift the cash rate again to slow the economy slightly and address those pressures.