China's iron ore futures drop on dim economic outlook

China's iron ore futures dropped on Thursday, after a poll showed the country's GDP growth for the March quarter is expected to decline for the first time in nearly three decades.

Analysts anticipate China's gross domestic product to have shrunk 6.5% in the first three months compared with a year earlier knocked by the coronavirus outbreak, according to a Reuters poll.

Beijing will unveil the key economic indicators on Friday. Iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, for September delivery, ended down 0.3% at 606 yuan ($85.63) per tonne.

Stainless steel futures' contract for June, which closed at over a seven-week high on Wednesday, slipped back and ended down 2.3% at 12,695 yuan per tonne. "The long-term impact on consumption brought by the coronavirus cannot be neglected," Jinrui Futures wrote in a note, adding that despite traders' restocking demand, it's still hard to see "obvious growth" in short term.

October contract of construction rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange edged up 0.2% to 3,385 yuan a tonne after China posted higher new home prices for March. New home prices in China returned to growth in March after stalling for the first time in five years in February, suggesting some pent-up demand as the impact from the coronavirus outbreak on the property market gradually fades.

Hot-rolled coil, used in the manufacturing sector, rose 0.8% to 3,234 yuan a tonne. Dalian coking coal gained 0.4% to 1,137 yuan per tonne while Dalian coke fell 0.3% to 1,717 yuan a tonne.

More than 2 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 136,667 have died, according to a Reuters tally.

The Japan Iron and Steel Federation will skip release of monthly crude steel output this month as it is unable to compile data after the government declared a state of emergency to curb the nation's coronavirus outbreak, an official at the federation said on Thursday.

The Kazakh iron ore unit of mining and metals conglomerate Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) is increasing exports to China to offset declining demand in the former Soviet Union, the company said on Wednesday.