China's cabinet, the State Council, chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, said on Wednesday China would use both broad and targeted reserve requirement ratio (RRR) cuts for banks "in a timely manner", and ramp up support for the real economy.

The most-active iron ore futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed at 647 yuan, up 1.2% from Wednesday.

Benchmark 62% iron ore for delivery to China <SH-CCN-IRNOR62>, as assessed by SteelHome consultancy, held its ground at $91 a tonne on Wednesday.

The most-traded construction steel rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, edged up 0.7% to 3,439 yuan a tonne.

"Increased government support from monetary and fiscal sides would be both positive to steel production and coking coal demand," Argonaut Securities said in a note.

Dalian coking coal, for January 2020 delivery, gained 1.1% to 1,328 yuan a tonne.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Hot-rolled coil, steel used in cars and home appliances, dipped 0.4% to 3,442 yuan a tonne.

* Other steelmaking ingredient, coke futures rose 0.9% to 1,918 yuan.

* China expects its exports to rise slightly in August as shippers raced to beat new U.S. tariffs but imports contracted for a fourth consecutive month, a Reuters poll showed.

* The Commerce Department of United States announced on Wednesday it imposed duties on Chinese and Mexican structural steel by up to 141% and up to 31%, respectively.

* China and U.S. agreed to hold trade talks in early October in Washington.

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