SHANGHAI: Dalian iron ore jumped more than 4% on Wednesday, leading ferrous futures higher in top steel producer China following three sessions of losses, after the country’s central bank signalled additional policy measures to stabilise the economy.
Iron ore’s most-active May contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange ended daytime trading 4.3% higher at 735 yuan ($115.79) a tonne, after touching 741.50 yuan earlier in the session, its strongest since Jan. 13.
On the Singapore Exchange, iron ore’s most-traded February contract was up 2.6% at $130.30 a tonne by 0702 GMT.
China “should introduce more policies that are conducive to stability” and “move ahead of the market curve”, central bank vice-governor Liu Guoqiang said on Tuesday, after the People’s Bank of China unexpectedly cut borrowing costs on its medium-term loans for the first time since April 2020.
Expectations of more pro-growth measures in China, as economic downward pressures persist, are boosting hopes of a pickup in demand for metals, analysts said.
“It remains to be seen how quickly these measures feed through to China’s market. However, we think demand could beat the market’s expectations, particularly if the property sector, which is the traditional engine of demand, shows signs of picking up this year,” said Wenyu Yao, senior commodities strategist at ING.
Construction steel rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 3%, while hot-rolled coil gained 2.9%, scaling their highest levels since late October earlier in the day. Stainless steel slipped 0.6% after a two-day advance.
Dalian coking coal rose 0.5%, while coke but coke shed 0.3%.
Supply-related worries also boosted support to iron ore prices, after BHP Group warned of possible disruptions in Western Australia due to rising COVID-19 cases.
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