Iron ore futures swung to gains from losses on the first working day of the week as the market keenly awaiteda key meeting of the topleadership in biggestconsumer China for cues on stimulus measures.
China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee is meeting over Nov. 4-8 and all eyes are on whether more stimulus measures would be unveiled to spur theeconomy.
The most-traded January iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) DCIOcv1 ended daytime trade0.91% higher at 779 yuan ($109.78) a metric ton, after touching the lowest since Oct 25 at 760.5 yuan a ton earlier in the session.
The benchmark December iron ore on the Singapore Exchange added 1.63%to $103.8 a ton, as of 0700 GMT. It hit the lowest since Oct. 25 at $101.25 a ton earlier.
The mounting expectation for strong China stimulus this week and a weaker U.S. dollar =USD helped prices of the key steelmaking ingredient to rebound in the afternoon session.
But headwinds of weakening demand, growing supply and portside stocks persisted, limiting price gains, said analysts.
“Portside stocks piled up in October and we are expecting to see a further rise in November and December, when ore demand is seasonally soft,” said Zhuo Guiqiu, an analyst at Jinrui Futures.
The average daily output of hot metal, an indicator to gauge iron ore demand, halted an eight-week gain to pose a fall of 0.1% week-on-week to 2.35 million tons in the week as of Nov 1, data from consultancy Mysteel showed.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE shrugged off earlier losses, with coking coal DJMcv1 and coke DCJcv1 up 1.6% and 2.07%, respectively.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange likewise gave up earlier losses. Rebar SRBcv1 added 0.74%, hot-rolled coil SHHCcv1 climbed 0.85%, wire rod SWRcv1 rose 0.85% and stainless steel SHSScv1 ticked up 0.48%.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Amy Lv and Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Sumana Nandy)
