China iron ore, steel futures tumble in risky-assets rout

[August 24, 2015]  By Manolo Serapio Jr

MANILA (Reuters) - Iron ore and steel futures in China fell sharply to hit their downside limit on Monday, swept by a broad-based selloff in risky assets on fears a cooling Chinese economy could spark a global slowdown.

Other commodities from copper to oil fell to their lowest since 2009 and Asian equities plummeted, led by Chinese stocks that dived more than 8 percent. The dollar <.DXY> dropped to its lowest since June versus a basket of currencies.

Iron ore for January delivery on the Dalian Commodity Exchange <DCIOcv1> fell 4 percent to close at its exchange-set floor of 362.50 yuan ($57) a tonne.

That is its lowest in three weeks and could further drag on spot prices of iron ore, a steelmaking ingredient. The September iron ore contract on the Singapore Exchange dropped 6 percent to $50.05 a tonne.

The spot price of iron ore, the biggest commodity produced by global miners Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, has rebounded by more than a quarter from a decade-low of $44.10 reached in July.

But a slowing Chinese economy could put the focus back on a global glut that has pulled iron ore prices down for a third year running amid shrinking steel demand in China.

"In a broad way, it feels like we're back where we started in 2009. Things are shaky to the extent where all the progress we've made in the past years looks to have been erased," said Howie Lee, analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore, on the rout in risky assets.

Iron ore for immediate delivery to China's Tianjin port <.IO62-CNI=SI> was flat at $55.60 a tonne on Friday, according to the Steel Index.

The latest data on China, released on Friday, which showed its factory sector contracting at its fastest pace in almost 6-1/2 years in August weighed further on sentiment towards the world's No. 2 economy, said Helen Lau, analyst at Argonaut Securities in Hong Kong.

"It shows there are no signs of improvement in demand. Sentiment is very poor," she said.

But Lau is optimistic that Chinese steel demand could pick up during the seasonally brisk period in September.

The most-traded January rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell as far as 5 percent to 1,930 yuan a tonne, the lowest for a most-active contract since rebar futures were launched in March 2009. It closed down 4.8 percent at 1,934 yuan.

Rebar and iron ore prices at 0701 GMT

Contract Last Change Pct Change

SHFE REBAR JAN6 1934 -98.00 -4.82

DALIAN IRON ORE DCE DCIO JAN6 362.5 -15.00 -3.97

SGX IRON ORE FUTURES SEP 50.05 -3.15 -5.92

THE STEEL INDEX 62 PCT INDEX 55.6 +0.00 +0.00

METAL BULLETIN INDEX 56.1 +0.26 +0.47

Dalian iron ore and Shanghai rebar in yuan/tonne

Index in dollars/tonne, show close for the previous trading day

(Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Biju Dwarakanath)

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