Iron ore tops $100 on position unwinds and China buying hopes

Iron ore broke above $100 a ton for the first time in seven weeks as traders unwound bets that favoured coking coal, adding to support from expectations for pre-holiday restocking in China and high freight costs.

Futures of the steel-making ingredient advanced as much as 1.6% to $101.10 in Singapore, the highest intraday level since July 2. Prices had remained below the psychologically important $100 mark through much of the summer, when steel demand is typically weaker. Yuan-priced futures advanced as much as 1.8%.

It’s “largely being driven by positioning unwinds, as market participants who were previously running a long coking coal, short iron ore spread are now closing out those positions,” said Pranay Shukla, head of dry bulk freight and commodities research at S&P Global Energy. That’s “creating buying pressure and driving upward momentum in iron ore,” he added.

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Fundamentals are also providing support. Optimism that mills will replenish iron ore inventories ahead of China’s National Day holidays in October is building, alongside hopes for a seasonal pickup in construction activity in September. Dry-bulk rates touched the highest in nearly five years in London on Friday.

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Beijing’s latest efforts to bolster its financial system aided sentiment. China is injecting 300 billion yuan ($45 billion) into its largest banks and insurers, part of the nation’s biggest recapitalisation in almost two decades, to shore up the strength of its financial system and sustain lending as economic growth slows.

Iron ore rose 1.1% to $100.60 a ton in Singapore at 12:45 p.m. local time. Futures on the Dalian Exchange advanced 1.3%, while Chinese coking coal contracts eased 3% after a recent rally. Other industrial metals were mixed on the London Metal Exchange, with copper and aluminium edging lower while lead and zinc advanced.

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