BEIJING- Iron ore rose for a second consecutive week, underpinned by stimulus-related optimism and supportive fundamentals in top consumer China.
The key steelmaking ingredient also benefited after a key financial policy meeting earlier this week and following the latest fiscal stimulus in Asia’s largest economy.
The most-traded January iron ore on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) climbed 1.36 percent to 933 yuan ($127.57) a metric ton, ending the week with an increase of 3.7 percent .
The benchmark December iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.86 percent higher at $123.65 a ton, a rise of 1.5 percent this week.
Chinese policymakers said during the twice-a-decade financial meeting on Oct.30-Oct. 31 that Beijing would strengthen efforts to reduce local debt risks and help with reasonable financing demands for all types of property enterprises.
This came after China last week approved a 1-trillion-yuan sovereign bond issue and passed a bill to allow local governments to frontload part of their 2024 bond quotas to support its economy.
Healthy fundamentals also supported iron ore, analysts said.