Dalian iron ore extends gains on easier home buying in Beijing

BEIJING: Prices of Dalian iron ore futures rose on Thursday for a second straight session, as further relaxations on home buying in the Chinese capital Beijing boosted sentiment.

The most-traded iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) added 0.26% to 776 yuan ($110.76) a metric ton, as of 0251 GMT.

The Singapore market is closed for Christmas Day on Thursday.

Beijing’s municipal authorities further eased curbs on home purchases on Wednesday, lowering the threshold for home-buying qualifications, in the latest efforts to boost demand amid worsening home prices in the Chinese capital.

That came after Chinese officials pledged earlier this week to step up efforts to stabilise the property market in 2026.

Market participants were watching whether other big cities will similarly ease home buying further.

Iron ore dips as data shows weaker global crude steel output

China’s property sector, which used to be the largest steel consumer, has been struggling with a persistent decline from mid-2021 with home prices falling and sales shrinking.

Steel consumption has taken a hit from the protracted property market downturn, although robust exports and growing demand from the manufacturing sector helped to offset some falling demand.

Supporting prices of the key steel-making ingredient was also the anticipation that steel mills will book more seaborne cargoes to meet consumption needs during the Lunar New Year holiday in February, said analysts.

However, high portside iron ore inventory and seasonally slack steel demand curbed price gains.

Coking coal and coke, other steel-making ingredients, were little changed.

Most steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained ground. Rebar added 0.26%, hot-rolled coil advanced 0.24%, wire rod rose 0.66% while stainless steel dipped 0.58%.