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Dalian iron ore rangebound in thin trade, caution on China stimulus

Dalian iron ore futures consolidated in a tight variety on Wednesday, as emerging hopes of more stimulus from leading customer China reinforced belief while thin trade because of the Christmas vacation in lots of areas curbed gains.

The most-traded May iron ore contract on China's Dalian Product Exchange (DCE) traded 0.13% lower at 775 yuan ($ 106.18) a metric load, as of 0247 GMT.

It hit an intra-day high at 782 yuan a load earlier in the session.

The Singapore Exchange was closed for Christmas.

Cautious stance versus demand outlook and high portside stocks functioned as headwinds, restricting upside prospective, analysts at Xinhu Futures stated in a note.

But the continuous winter equipping from steel mills and expectations that the falling rate of hot metal output will slow down likewise provided some support, so ore costs are likely to be rangebound.

Hot metal output is typically utilized to gauge iron ore need.

Other steelmaking components on the DCE were blended, with coking coal up 1.05% and coke down 0.23%.

Many steel criteria on the Shanghai Futures Exchange posted gains. Rebar ticked up 0.27%, hot-rolled coil nudged up 0.09%, wire rod added 0.94% while stainless steel shed 0.42%.

In general, there is very little contradiction in supply and demand fundamentals in the steel market, analysts at Galaxy Futures said in a note.

Steel items continued to destock in part because the construction steel consumption has revealed unusual durability in a slow demand season thanks to more capital streaming into building projects.

(source: Reuters)