Iron ore ticks up on Beijing stimulus hopes but set for weekly loss
By Gabrielle Ng
SINGAPORE, Oct 11 (Reuters) -Iron ore futures prices edged higher on Friday but remained on track to fall for the week, as traders cautiously awaited further fiscal stimulus announcements from top consumer China in a key press conference scheduled on Saturday.
The most-traded January iron ore contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) DCIOcv1 ended morning trade 0.45% higher at 783.5 yuan ($110.81) a metric ton. The contract has lost 2.37% so far this week.
The benchmark November iron ore SZZFX4 on the Singapore Exchange was 1.54% higher at $106 a ton as of 0330 GMT, but was set to fall 3.88% week-on-week.
China's finance ministry is scheduled to hold a news conference on fiscal policy on Saturday.
Metals rose and the iron ore market marked time as traders remained "super focused" on Saturday's announcement, Westpac analysts said in a note.
The conference follows an official briefing on Tuesday that affirmed Beijing was "fully confident" of achieving its growth target but refrained from introducing stronger fiscal steps, disappointing investors who had banked on more policy support to get the economy back on track.
Meanwhile, analysts also cited prospects of long-term gains for China's commodities from its effective support of equity markets.
"A combination of stability in the real estate sector and stronger equity markets should see consumer sentiment rebound, which could bolster domestic confidence enough to lead to an economic rebound and stronger demand for commodities," ANZ analysts said.
While the stimulus measures have lifted sentiment in housing and steel markets, fundamentals such as stable consumption and production increases will remain crucial variables for steel's supply-demand dynamic, Chinese consultancy Steelhome said.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE were stronger, with coking coal DJMcv1 and coke DCJcv1 up 1.77% and 0.62%, respectively.
Most steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ticked down. Rebar SRBcv1 lost almost 0.3%, hot-rolled coil SHHCcv1 dipped nearly 0.1%, stainless steel SHSScv1 slipped 0.04%, although wire rod SWRcv1 strengthened 0.16%.
($1 = 7.0708 Chinese yuan)
Reporting by Gabrielle Ng; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala
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