Iron ore advances on prospects of seasonal steel demand, China stimulus
SINGAPORE, Sept 10 (Reuters) -Iron ore futures prices climbed on Tuesday, buoyed by prospects of improved seasonal demand for steel in top consumer China and hopes of further stimulus from Beijing following a batch of muted economic data.
The most-traded January iron ore contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) DCIOcv1 was up 1.55% at 686 yuan ($96.29) a metric ton, as of 0243 GMT.
The benchmark October iron ore SZZFV4 on the Singapore Exchange was 0.31% higher at $92.05 a ton.
Signs of a rebound in Chinese demand helped push metals prices higher, but the property sector weakness casts a pall over industrial metals markets, ANZ analysts said in a note.
September is a typical peak season for steel consumption in China, although demand remained low last week amid concerns about the Chinese and U.S. economies, said Chinese consultancy Mysteel.
China's consumer inflation accelerated in August to the fastest pace in half a year, while producer price deflation worsened.
A sputtering start in the second half is mounting pressure on the world's second-largest economy to roll out more policies amid a prolonged housing downturn, persistent joblessness, debt woes and rising trade tensions.
Steel inventories at major Chinese steel mills fell to 14.5 million tons in late August, down 11.6% from mid-August, and 1.2% lower than a year before, data from the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) showed.
Total iron ore stockpiles across ports in China dipped 0.2% week-on-week to 150.5 million tons as of Sept. 6, Steelhome data showed.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE rose after six consecutive sessions of losses, with coking coal DJMcv1 and coke DCJcv1 up 1.69% and 0.85%, respectively.
Most steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange posted gains. Hot-rolled coil SHHCcv1 climbed almost 1.7%, rebar SRBcv1 gained about 1.6%, wire rod SWRcv1 added around 0.7, while stainless steel SHSScv1 lost 0.45%.
($1 = 7.1242 Chinese yuan)
Reporting by Gabrielle Ng; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu
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