Dalian iron ore futures inch lower despite easing China COVID curbs

Dalian iron ore futures inched lower on Thursday, despite the easing of strict COVID-19 curbs in some cities in top steelmaker China following a recent string of protests lifting demand sentiment.

The most-traded January iron ore on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange TIO1! ended day-time trade 0.1% lower to 766.5 yuan ($108.58) a tonne, off an earlier high.

On the Singapore Exchange, the benchmark December iron ore (SZZFZ2) was up 2.1% at $102.80 a tonne, as of 0710 GMT.

Market sentiment was buoyed by the apparent shift in China's zero-COVID strategy. However, weakness in the property sector persists - new home sales by the 100 biggest producer developers dropped 26% year-on-year to CNY 559bn in November, ANZ said in a research note.

Asian equities jumped, while the dollar slid as investors poured into risky assets after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell opened the door to a slowdown in the pace of monetary tightening.

The most-active rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange RRBF1! rose 0.2%, hot-rolled coil EHR1! rose 0.3%, wire rod (SWRcv1) rose 0.9%, and stainless steel HHRC1! rose 0.4%.

Dalian coking coal ACT1! and coke (DCJcv1) both fell 3.2% and 2.3% respectively.

($1 = 7.0591 yuan)