BEIJING- Dalian and Singapore iron ore futures rebounded in afternoon trading on Friday as sentiment improved, helped by data showing that inventories at Chinese ports continued to fall in the past week.
The most-traded May iron ore futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended daytime trading 0.29 percent higher at 866.5 yuan ($126.43) a ton, but marked a week-on-week fall of 4.3 percent and a month-on-month drop of 4.6 percent.
Concerns that China may cut crude steel output this year had pressured the market this week along with weaker-than-expected steel demand and prospects of higher ore supply, but sentiment picked up after port inventory data on Friday.
On the Singapore Exchange, the benchmark April iron ore was 1.42 percent higher at $119.9 a ton.
“It’s natural to see (the iron ore) price rebound after dramatic falls within this week. We believe the price has nearly hit bottom at this stage,” said a Shanghai-based iron ore analyst.
Iron ore inventories at major Chinese ports fell for the fourth week in a row by a total of 4.3 percent to 136.05 million tons as of March 24, data from consultancy Mysteel showed on Friday.
