Iron ore prices are mixed following a big surge to start the week

• Iron ore spot markets finished mixed on Tuesday, consolidating upon the strong gains seen a session earlier.

• Chinese steel futures weakened but that did not expend to declines in bulk commodity contracts traded in Dalian.

• Steel futures continued to fall in overnight trade on Tuesday. On this occasion iron ore futures followed suit.

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Iron ore spot prices diverged on Tuesday with mid and higher grades inching higher while lower grades fell.

According to Metal Bulletin, the price for benchmark 62% fines rose less than 0.1% to $94.53 a tonne, consolidating upon the strong gains seen a session earlier.

Higher grades also inched higher with 65% fines adding 0.3% to settle at $108.10 a tonne, moving closer to the recent peak of $109.70 a tonne struck earlier in the month.

In contrast to the performance of more efficient, more expensive grades, the price for 58% fines went backwards, declining 0.9% to $79.83 a tonne. It previously climbed to a five-year high on Monday.

Image: BI

The mixed price performance across spot iron ore markets came despite modest falls in Chinese steel futures during the session.

According to data from the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the most actively traded rebar and hot-rolled coil contracts eased to 3,757 and 3,692 yuan respectively, down from 3,789 and 3,724 yuan on Monday evening.

Dalian iron ore futures were nonplussed by the declines in Shanghai, holding steady at 629 yuan. Coking coal and coke contracts managed to buck the overall trend, lifting to 1,337.5 and 2,046 yuan respectively.

While iron ore futures managed to avoid the downdraft in steel contracts earlier in the session, that changed in overnight trade on Tuesday with all three contracts finishing below the day session close.

SHFE Hot Rolled Coil ¥3,675 , -1.02%
SHFE Rebar ¥3,729 , -1.27%
DCE Iron Ore ¥624.50 , -0.72%
DCE Coking Coal ¥1,338.00 , 0.11%
DCE Coke ¥2,035.00 , -0.25%

Trade in Chinese commodity futures will resume at 11am AEST.