By Amy Lv and Lewis Jackson
BEIJING (Reuters) -Singapore iron ore futures rose on Tuesday, driven by expectations of increased demand as steelmakers in the northern region of top consumer China are set to resume production following the conclusion of the annual parliament meeting.
However, gains were capped by concerns over escalating global trade friction stirred by the latest tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The benchmark April iron ore on the Singapore Exchange climbed 0.86% to $100.75 a metric ton, as of 0700 GMT, after touching the lowest level since January 14 at $98.85 a ton earlier in the session.
The most-traded May iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) closed daytime trade little changed at 774.5 yuan ($106.95) a ton.
“Hot metal output still has upside room in March as some steelmakers in North China will likely ramp up production after the ‘Two Sessions’,” analysts at Chaos Ternary Futures said in a note.
Hot metal output is typically used to gauge iron ore demand.
Two Sessions, China’s annual legislative meetings, kicked off on March 4 and will conclude later in the day.
Prices of the key steelmaking ingredients fell on Monday, dragged by weak macro sentiment as hopes for additional stimulus from China faded and concerns over the potential impact of new tariffs from Trump clouded demand prospects.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE retreated, with coking coal and coke down 1.67% and 1.28%, respectively.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly weaker. Rebar fell 0.83%, hot-rolled coil lost 0.42% and wire rod shed 0.96%, while stainless steel added 0.48%.
($1 = 7.2415 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Amy Lv and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Varun H K)
