BEIJING- Iron ore futures dipped on Tuesday, with rising COVID cases in the world’s top steelmaker China weighing on market sentiment, though the country’s efforts to support the ailing property sector and low inventories lent some support.
The most-traded January iron ore on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange dipped 0.3 percent to 737.5 yuan ($103.14) a ton.
On the Singapore Exchange, the benchmark December iron ore was down 0.1 percent at $95.2 a ton.
China’s capital warned on Monday that it was facing its most severe test of the COVID-19 pandemic, shutting businesses and schools in hard-hit districts and tightening rules for entering the city as infections ticked higher in Beijing and nationally.
The country reported 28,127 new COVID-19 infections on Nov. 21, of which 2,225 were symptomatic and 25,902 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday.
However, the losses were limited amid efforts by China’s regulators to support the property sector, according to ANZ research.
Chinese regulators have told financial institutions to extend more support to property developers to stabilize lending to developers, including reasonable extensions of existing loans.
In addition to optimism that steel-intensive sectors such as construction and infrastructure will accelerate next year, there are some other bullish factors for iron ore and steel, such as low inventories.
Iron ore inventories at Chinese ports dropped to 135.45 million tons in the week to Nov. 18, from 136 million the previous week.
The most-active rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange added 0.4 percent, hot-rolled coil moved up 0.5 percent, wire rod climbed 0.6 percent, while stainless steel rose 1.9 percent up. — Reuters
