Iron ore last week rose to the highest level in almost four months on signs that Chinese authorities would announce more support for the property sector at a key meeting next week.
Futures advanced in Singapore on Friday, extending a rally from a 45-month low at the end of October to almost 50 percent.
The steelmaking ingredient has been buoyed by a steady stream of policies favorable to the real-estate industry in the world’s most-populous nation.
Photo: AP
Traders are banking on hopes that the property sector, good for 40 percent of China’s steel consumption, would get more support at the Chinese Central Economic Work Conference scheduled for next week, at which policymakers are to discuss goals for the new year.
Authorities aim to reverse the downward trend in the sector and resume normal operations, a person familiar with the matter said.
There is scope for iron ore to rally further due to positive sentiment on China’s shift away from its “zero COVID-19” policy and Beijing’s determination to support the property sector, Citigroup Inc said in a note.
The bank increased its three-month forecast to US$120 a tonne and said prices could climb toward US$150 if China announces meaningful credit easing over the next three to six months or the re-opening accelerates.
Replenishment of iron ore stockpiles remains slower than expected, Minmetals Futures said in a note.
That should help keep prices robust in the short term, it said.
Iron ore rose 2 percent to US$111.25 a tonne in Singapore on Friday, set for a sixth weekly advance. Futures in Dalian, China, climbed 3.1 percent, as steel rebar and hot-rolled coil advanced in Shanghai.
Meanwhile, wheat posted a fifth straight week of losses as prospects brighten for getting global grain shipments out of the war-stressed Black Sea.
The US Department of Agriculture raised its outlook for world wheat trade in part on higher exports from Ukraine and Russia, the agency said in its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates on Friday.
Last month’s extension of a Russia-Ukraine agreement allowing for safe passage of exports from the Black Sea has helped cool off recent price gains, potentially easing a scourge of global food inflation.
A bumper wheat crop in Australia is also sending prices lower.
Despite earlier fears that flooding in parts of eastern Australia would hurt grain quality, reports indicate its not “the nightmare it looked like it could be just last month,” Frontier Futures broker Joe Nussmeier said.
Further pressuring prices is a forecast for beneficial rains in wheat producing US states such as Kansas, said Rich Nelson, chief strategist at commodity brokerage Allendale Inc.
The most active wheat contract in Chicago closed 1.6 percent lower at US$7.3425 a bushel on Friday, while corn gained slightly an soybeans fell.
Other commodities:
Gold for February delivery rose US$9.20 to US$1,810.70 an ounce, posting a marginal weekly gain of 0.06 percent.
Silver for March delivery rose US$0.47 to US$23.72, up 1.99 percent from a week earlier
Copper for delivery in March was unchanged at US$3.88 a pound.
Additional reporting by AP
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
DOLLAR SIGNS: The central bank rejected claims that the NT dollar had appreciated 10 percentage points more than the yen or the won against the greenback The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell for a sixth day to its weakest level in three months, driven by equity-related outflows and reactions to an economics official’s exchange rate remarks. The NT dollar slid NT$0.197, or 0.65 percent, to close at NT$30.505 per US dollar, central bank data showed. The local currency has depreciated 1.97 percent so far this month, ranking as the weakest performer among Asian currencies. Dealers attributed the retreat to foreign investors wiring capital gains and dividends abroad after taking profit in local shares. They also pointed to reports that Washington might consider taking equity stakes in chipmakers, including Taiwan Semiconductor
A German company is putting used electric vehicle batteries to new use by stacking them into fridge-size units that homes and businesses can use to store their excess solar and wind energy. This week, the company Voltfang — which means “catching volts” — opened its first industrial site in Aachen, Germany, near the Belgian and Dutch borders. With about 100 staff, Voltfang says it is the biggest facility of its kind in Europe in the budding sector of refurbishing lithium-ion batteries. Its CEO David Oudsandji hopes it would help Europe’s biggest economy ween itself off fossil fuels and increasingly rely on climate-friendly renewables. While
RSS