Iron ore rangebound as lower shipments weigh against soft demand, high stocks
By Amy Lv and Colleen Howe
BEIJING, Dec 17 (Reuters) -Iron ore futures moved in a tight range on Tuesday, as markets weighed slowed shipments against lacklustre demand and high portside stocks in top consumer China.
The most-traded May iron ore contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) DCIOcv1 ended morning trade 0.25% higher at 798 yuan ($109.56) a metric ton.
The benchmark January iron ore <SZZFF5> on the Singapore Exchange rose 0.24% to $105 a ton, as of 0337 GMT.
"Ore prices are likely to move between 770-820 yuan a ton in the near term," said Zhuo Guiqiu, an analyst at Jinrui Futures.
"Supply pressure somewhat eased as shipments have recently fallen, while demand sustained amid a relatively high hot metal output despite some decline. High portside inventories remained a headwind."
Concerns over supply disruption from a major supplier in Australia helped prices of the key steelmaking ingredient swing to gain in afternoon trade on Monday, said analysts and traders.
BHP BHP.AX paused operations at two iron ore mines in Western Australia on Saturday after heavy rains in the country's Pilbara region, a spokesperson told Reuters, adding operations have since resumed.
Although concerns were temporarily removed, traders were still contemplating supply in the coming quarter, said a Shanghai-based analyst, requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to media.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE were mixed, with coking coal DJMcv1 up 0.75% and coke DCJcv1 down 0.11%.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were rangebound. Rebar SRBcv1 advanced 0.24%, hot-rolled coil SHHCcv1 gained 0.14%, while wire rod SWRcv1 dipped 0.14% and stainless steel SHSScv1 lost 0.19%.
($1 = 7.2836 Chinese yuan)
Reporting by Amy Lv and Colleen Howe; Editing by Sumana Nandy
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