BEIJING- Iron ore futures slid in the first working day of the week when the market would closely monitor the US presidential election and a key meeting of the top leadership in biggest consumer China for cues on stimulus measures.
China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee is meeting over Nov. 4-8 and all eyes are on whether more stimulus measures would be unveiled to spur the economy.
The most-traded January iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) traded 0.78 percent lower at 766 yuan ($107.69) a metric ton, as of 0238 GMT.
The benchmark December iron ore on the Singapore Exchange slid 1.01 percent to $101.7 a ton. It hit the lowest since Oct. 25 at $101.25 a ton earlier in the session.
Weighing on prices of the key steelmaking ingredient are signs of weakening demand, analysts said.
The average daily output of hot metal, an indicator to gauge iron ore demand, halted an eight-week gain to pose a fall of 0.1 percent week-on-week to 2.35 million tons in the week as of Nov 1, data from consultancy Mysteel showed.
The expectation of growing supply and portside stocks in the last quarter of this year further dragged down ore prices.
