Iron ore and steel futures in China jumped on Thursday, extending gains into the fourth straight session after Beijing pledged more stimulus to relieve tax burdens and boost credit support for companies.
In a cabinet meeting led by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday, the government said it will further extend tax cuts for small firms and create policy tools that will enable banks to issue more unsecured loans, Chinese state television reported.
China also aims to issue another 1.0 trillion yuan ($140 billion) worth of local government special bonds by the end of May, according to the cabinet meeting.
The most-traded iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, for September delivery, closed up 2.0% to 623 yuan ($87.71) per tonne.
The October contracts of steel futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange also gained, with construction rebar up 1.5% to 3,439 yuan per tonne and hot-rolled coil gaining 1.9% to 3,305 yuan a tonne.
Dalian coking coal advanced as much as 2.6% to 1,101 yuan a tonne, as production at a coal mine run by Anglo American in Australia's Queensland state was halted on Wednesday after an explosion, which injured five people. It ended up 1.5% to 1,089 yuan per tonne.
Tracking the jump, coke futures rose 1.8% to 1,741 yuan per tonne. Spot prices of iron ore with 62% iron content for delivery to China were unchanged from previous session at $84.5 per tonne on Wednesday.
Stainless steel futures, for June delivery, edged up 0.2% to 13,155 yuan per tonne. More than 3.7 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and almost 260,000 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
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