BEIJING- Iron ore prices eased on Tuesday, as traders remained cautious about taking positions after a state-backed bourse in top consumer China said it would limit trading volumes of futures contracts for the key steelmaking ingredient.
The most-traded January iron ore on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) dipped 0.27 percent to 925.5 yuan ($127.18) a metric ton.
The benchmark December iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.88 percent lower at $122.7 a ton, as of 0220 GMT.
The Dalian-based bourse said late on Monday that trading volumes of opening both long and short positions on iron ore futures contracts from January to May 2024 among any non-futures company member shall not exceed 1,000 lots on any single day, effective from daytime trading on Wednesday.
Also, trading volume on the other futures contracts shall not exceed 2,000 lots for a single day, it said, adding that trading volume for hedging and market-making of opening positions shall be exempted.
Meanwhile, DCE announced to adjust up the trading fee rates of iron ore futures contracts from January to May 2024 from daytime trading on Thursday.
“The move is to curb the excessive speculative activities and we expect iron ore prices to move within limited range in the short term,” said Cheng Peng, a Beijing-based analyst at Sinosteel Futures. – Reuters