Fri Jun 22, 2012
SINGAPORE, June 22 (Reuters) - Physical trading in the spot iron ore market was limited on Friday with a public holiday in top importer China, a day after the benchmark price rose for a 10th straight session in its longest upward streak in seven months.
Expectations that crude steel output in China will sustain demand for iron ore have encouraged traders to snap up cargoes in the last few days, lifting prices to their highest in nearly six weeks.
Benchmark 62-percent grade iron ore .IO62-CNI=SI rose 0.4 percent to $137.40 a tonne on Thursday, according to Steel Index, its priciest since May 11.
That marked its 10th straight day of gains, its longest run since mid-November, when the price of steel's raw material climbed for 14 days in a row.
But activity slowed sharply on Friday, with the Chinese away for a long holiday weekend.
"It's very quiet. I can hear the flies," said a Hong Kong-based trader.
After the recent rally, prices could start next week steady, although the buying interest may persist and push prices further up, he said.
China's daily crude steel output stayed near record levels at around 2 million tonnes in the first 10 days of June, as large mills increased production, data from the China Iron and Steel Association showed on Wednesday.
Iron ore indexes
Last Change Pct Change
PLATTS 62 PCT INDEX 139.25 +0.00 +0.00
THE STEEL INDEX 62 PCT INDEX 137.4 +0.60 +0.44
METAL BULLETIN INDEX 138.18 +0.13 +0.09
Index in dollars/tonne, show close for the previous trading day
(Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Joseph Radford)
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