BEIJING, June 27
(Reuters) -Prices of iron ore
futures were
divergent, with the Dalian benchmark extending its climbfor a
third session on Thursday, buoyed by top consumer China's latest efforts to
spur its struggling property market.
The most-traded
September iron ore contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) DCIOcv1 ended daytime trade 1.2%
higher at 819 yuan ($112.67) a metric ton.
The benchmark July
iron ore SZZFN4 on the Singapore Exchange, however, shed
early gains to trade 0.9%
lower at $105.65 a ton as of 0718 GMT, as weak industrial data
and caution on high portside stockpiles dominated.
It touched an intraday high at $107.45
a ton in the morning.
China's capital city
Beijing announced steps on Wednesday to reduce the cost of buying a home,
including cutting mortgage interest rates and the minimum down-payment ratio,
to try to boost the local property market.
Expectations of
near-term resilient demand acted as tailwinds to prices of the key steelmaking
ingredient, according to analysts.
Average daily hot
metal output in July is expected at about 2.37 million tons based on current
production and maintenance plans, meaning that ore demand will be relatively
rigid, analysts at Everbright Futures said in a note.
Additionally,
"traders may also have been buoyed by a Hong Kong court's decision to
adjourn Chinese (property) developer Shimao Group Holdings liquidation hearing to
July, giving it more time to refine its debt restructuring plan," ANZ
analysts said in a note.
But gains narrowed
after official data showed that China's industrial profit rose
at a much slower pace in May, underlining the struggles faced by the world's
second-largest economy as weak domestic demand crimps overall growth.
Other steelmaking
ingredients on the DCE pared
gains, with coking coal DJMcv1 and coke DCJcv1 down 0.32% and 0.11%,
respectively.
Steel benchmarks on the
Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed.
Rebar SRBcv1 dipped
0.2%, hot-rolled coil SHHCcv1 was little changed,
wire rod SWRcv1 ticked 0.3% lower and stainless steel SHSScv1 climbed
0.8%.