BEIJING: Iron ore futures prices extended their rise for a second straight session on Thursday, supported by lingering demand hopes in top consumer China, although some profit taking limited gains. The most-traded September iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended morning trade 1.03% higher at 879.5 yuan ($121.36) a metric ton, after rising more than 3% on Wednesday.

The benchmark May iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.28% higher at $118.25 a ton, as of 0331 GMT, following an increase of more than 5% the day before.

Analysts at Soochow Futures said in a note that rising steel output and demand heightened expectations of growing hot metal output. “The market had opted to trade the apparent construction steel demand data in advance, with some participants pegging it at 2.87 million tons, a rise of 65,000 tons from previous session,” analysts at Shengda Futures said in a note.

The price gains have slowed after the DCE on Wednesday unveiled plans to adjust trading volume of open positions with delivery in May and September for some clients to 500 lots from Friday to tame speculation.