Iron ore futures slipped on Wednesday, as investors shifted their focus to weak fundamentalsof the key steelmaking ingredient from expectations of more stimulus in top consumer China.
The most-traded January iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended daytime trade 0.76% lower at 781.5 yuan ($109.05) a metric ton.
The benchmark December iron ore on the Singapore Exchange shed 1.56% to $103.75 a ton, as of 0700 GMT.
“Some traders chose to liquidate part of long positions to lock in profits following rises in previous days,” said Pei Hao, an analyst at international brokerage Freight Investor Services (FIS).
Expectations of more stimulus during the meeting of the standing committee of China’s National People’s Congress had driven ore prices up by more than 1% in the first two sessions this week.
Reuters exclusively reported last week that China is considering approving new debt issuance of more than 10 trillion yuan to tackle hidden local government debt, fund buybacks of idle land and reduce a giant inventory of unsold flats.
“Even if Beijing eventually announces the issuance of 10 trillion yuan later this week, that’s just in line with expectation, not beating expectation, meaning that gains achieved earlier will surrender,” a China analyst said requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to media.
Meanwhile, the focus was also on the outcome of the U.S. presidentialelection.
“If Trump succeeds in the election, he will likely accelerate the progress of infrastructure building in the United States, but at the same time he will lead more steel trade frictions globally, which will suppress China’s steel exports, putting long-term pressure on iron ore,” Freight Investor Services’ Pei said.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE tumbled, with coking coal DJMcv1 and coke DCJcv1 down 3.48% and 3.88%, respectively.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were weaker. Rebar SRBcv1 shed 1.11%, hot-rolled coil SHHCcv1 lost 1%, wire rod SWRcv1 fell 1.22%and stainless steel SHSScv1 edged down 0.7%.
Source: Reuters