BEIJING- Steel futures prices in China jumped on Monday, with hot-rolled coils and construction rebar climbing more than 3 percent at market open to narrow the gap with spot prices, as traders cheered a marginally improved consumption of industrial metals.
Apparent demand of five main steel products in China, including rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coils and others, gained for two consecutive weeks and was up 4.2 percent last week from early-November, data from Mysteel consultancy showed.
“In the short term, property-related policy is expected to see improvement, which could probably lift market sentiment,” Galaxy Futures wrote in a note, warning that spot market still faces risk of lower costs and consumption.
Spot prices of rebar and hot-rolled coils are about 400 yuan and 200 yuan higher, respectively, than the currently most-traded January futures contracts.
Analysts with GF Futures noted that possible marginal easing of real estate financing situation is not likely to reverse steel demand of January deliveries.
The most-active construction rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was up 2.5 percent at 4,307 yuan ($674.62) per ton, as of 0323 GMT.
Hot-rolled coils, used in cars and home appliances, increased 1.1 percent to 4,414 yuan a ton.
Stainless steel futures on the Shanghai bourse inched 0.7 percent higher to 17,245 yuan per ton.
