NEWS

* Stainless steel futures up nearly 2.9% in early trade

* Dalian iron ore extends gains

BEIJING, China – Stainless steel futures in China extended gains into a seventh session on Wednesday, surging almost 2.9% as restocking demand from traders rose, while supply disruptions due to suspension at Philippines’ nickel mines also supported prices.

The most-traded June contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange jumped as much as 2.9% to 13,045 yuan ($1,849.75) per tonne, the highest since Feb. 25. It was up 2.4% to 12,980 yuan a tonne as of 0330 GMT.

“Some steel mills have limited their sales recently to support stainless steel prices which had been running low since the Lunar New Year holiday, stimulating traders’ restocking demand,” Fu Zhiwen, an analyst with Huatai Futures said, adding that the robust demand may not be sustainable as exports drop because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Fu also said supply disruptions in the Philippines could push prices of nickel ore in the next period.

Top nickel ore producers in the country suspended mining and export operations in a southern province last week to comply with the coronavirus-containment measures.

Nickel futures on the Shanghai exchange surged more than 7% since April 2.

Other steel futures on the Shanghai exchanged edged down, with construction rebar, for October delivery, losing 0.4% to 3,380 yuan per tonne and hot-rolled coil inched down 0.1% to 3,213 yuan per tonne.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Benchmark iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, for September delivery, rose 0.8% to 610 yuan per tonne.

* Spot prices of iron ore with 62% iron content for delivery to China rose to $85.5 a tonne on Tuesday.

* Dalian coking coal rose 0.4% to 1,134 yuan per tonne while Dalian coke fell 0.3% to 1,728 yuan per tonne.

* More than 1.92 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 120,670 have died, according to a Reuters tally.

* China has approved early-stage human tests for two experimental vaccines to combat the new coronavirus as it battles to contain imported cases, especially from neighbouring Russia, the new “front line” in the war on COVID-19.

* China’s central bank cut the interest rate on its medium-term funding for financial institutions to the lowest on record, as policymakers stepped up their efforts to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus health crisis.

($1 = 7.0523 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Min Zhang and Tom Daly; editing by Uttaresh.V)

Source: Yahoo! News