BEIJING- Iron ore futures prices rose for a second straight session on Wednesday, aided by a wave of buying in the spot market in top consumer China, although gains were capped by high portside stocks and seasonally weak steel demand.
The most-traded September iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) was up 0.75 percent at 805 yuan ($110.79) a metric ton.
The benchmark July iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.78 percent higher at $103.85 a ton.
Near-term demand for the key steelmaking ingredient stayed solid, partly because iron ore is more cost competitive than steel scrap, another steelmaking input.
Iron ore transaction volumes at major ports climbed by 9.32 percent from Monday to around 1.09 million tons on Tuesday, data from consultancy Mysteel showed.
“Prices (of iron ore) are consolidating within a limited range, which might also be seen in coming days as there is currently no clear direction,” said Xie Qingwei, an analyst at consultancy Shanghai Metals Market.
“There is no new macro economic stimulus in the short term, while relatively high hot metal output supported near-term ore demand.”
