Overnight the USD index slipped 0.09% to 99.87 while AUD/USD gained 0.73% to 0.7049, yet critical minerals pricing remained largely range-bound with only isolated moves such as nickel declining 1.87% to $17,090/t and lithium hydroxide falling 2.10% to 128,000 CNY/t, underscoring the absence of macro-driven volatility when physical supply shocks are missing. No Tier 1 mine outages, export bans or demand shocks surfaced in the last 12-18 hours, leaving the 60-day Nchanga smelter maintenance at Konkola Copper Mines (Vedanta) in Zambia and Sherritt’s Alberta nickel-cobalt refinery shutdown as the only standing curtailments without fresh updates. ASX-exposed names tied to tungsten stand to benefit from the 9.60% jump in APT to $665.57/mtu while nickel-linked equities face continued pressure from the 1.87% price drop and the lack of resolution at Sherritt’s Alberta facility pending Moa feed resumption.