MANILA: Dalian and Singapore iron ore futures rose on Monday, reversing early-session losses, as hopes for additional stimulus for China’s economy overshadowed worries over the risk of a sharp slowdown due to COVID-19 lockdowns.

Economic activity in top steel producer China slowed in March, with weakness in consumption, property and exports eclipsing faster-than-expected first-quarter GDP growth.

But the economy is likely to stay on its recovery track this year and Beijing will step up policy implementation to stabilize the outlook, said a spokesman for the country’s statistics bureau.

The most-traded iron ore, for September delivery, on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange ended the morning trade 1.4% higher at 926.50 yuan ($145.37) a tonne.

On the Singapore Exchange, the most-active May contract for the steelmaking ingredient climbed 0.7% to $155.40 a tonne. Late on Friday, the People’s Bank of China announced it would cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves for the first time this year, releasing about 530 billion yuan in liquidity to cushion a sharp slowdown in economic growth.

Analysts expressed doubts that the cut in the reserve requirement ratio was enough to reverse the slowdown. “With more cities going into lockdown and the PBoC being cautious with interest rate support, we may further reduce our GDP growth forecasts,” said Iris Pang, ING chief economist for Greater China.

“We are holding off taking this action for now and waiting to see if the central government will provide more fiscal support for the economy.” COVID-19 curbs have dampened China’s crude steel output already curtailed by environmental restrictions, with March production falling more than 6% from a year earlier. Construction steel rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.7%, while hot-rolled coil added 0.2%. Stainless steel fell 1.4%. Dalian coking coal gained 0.3% and coke climbed 1.3%.