Iron ore climbs to nearly $100/ton after China stimulus push

Iron ore futures in Asia are rallying for a second day Wednesday on speculation that China’s stimulus package will help boost demand, but base metals are drifting lower after strong gains a day ago.

Iron ore briefly rose above $99/ton in Singapore before trimming its advance, after closing nearly 6% higher in the previous session, but prices are still down more than 20% since late May on China’s slowing economy and hefty supplies from producers in Brazil and Australia.

Singapore iron ore futures (SCO:COM) recently traded +3.6% to $98.10/ton after rising nearly 5%, and yuan-priced futures closed up 1.4% higher on China’s Dalian exchange after climbing as much as 3%.

“Driven by the macro stimulus, ferrous products are having strong run in the short term, but the spot market is still cautious,” Huatai Futures said. “If demand for steel products doesn’t improve notably, the supply and demand for iron ore will not reach a balance. The downside risk still exists.”

On the London Metal Exchange, base metals gave up early gains to turn lower after Tuesday’s surge, with benchmark copper (HG1:COM) -0.3% to $9,770.50/ton after rising as much as 1.2% and aluminum pulling back from its best level since June.

Potentially relevant stocks include BHP (NYSE:BHP), Rio Tinto (RIO), Vale (VALE), Fortescue (OTCQX:FSUMF), Glencore (OTCPK:GLCNF) (OTCPK:GLNCY) and Anglo American (OTCQX:AAUKF) (OTCQX:NGLOY).