Iron ore futures clawed back much of the week's previous losses and coking coal contracts hit a new high for 2017 in China on August 17.
The futures contract for iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange gained as much as 7.3% to 561.5 yuan/t on August 17, briefly erasing losses for the week before settling back to a rise of 4.5% in afternoon trading.
That jump was tracked by futures for coking coal, with the price of the key steelmaking ingredient up as much as 6.9% from the previous day's close at 1,451.5 yuan/t. That was the highest level for the year to date.
The failure to match those gains by thermal coal – used for energy generation and up just 1.6% in the afternoon session on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange – suggested the rally was primarily connected to outlook for the construction sector.
(Writing by Jessie Jia Editing by Harry Huo)
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