The price of iron ore has surged past $US55 a tonne again in offshore trade despite soft Chinese data weighing heavily on other commodities.
At the end of the latest session, benchmark iron ore for immediate delivery to the port of Tianjin in China was trading at $US55.30 a tonne, up 4.5 per cent from $US52.90 a tonne in the prior session.
The positive session belied a broad sell-off on commodity markets as copper and aluminium struck six-year lows and Brent crude slid below $US50 a barrel for the first time since January.
Investors were spooked by soft manufacturing reports out of China on Saturday and yesterday, which dampened hopes for strong demand out of the world’s second largest economy.
The iron ore rebound erased two days of falls and brought it back to the one-month high it touched on Wednesday last week.
The commodity has recovered strongly from a 10-year low of $US44.10, reached in July, as talk of a slowdown in Australian exports helps stabilise prices, with a shortage of high-grade product reported. Rising steel prices have also been seen aiding iron ore, though expectations of a demand cutback in September curbed optimism toward the end of last week as a temporary crackdown on air pollution is likely to be ordered by Beijing.
The dual-listed Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton both lost significant ground in offshore trade, losing 2.2 per cent and 3.9 per cent, respectively, on the London exchange.
Source: The Australian
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