Chinese iron ore futures higher

Benchmark iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, for January delivery, rose as much as 5.3% to 715 yuan ($110.57) per tonne in morning trade. They were up 2.8% at 698 yuan a tonne, as of 0330 GMT. Singapore iron ore futures increased 1.4% to $120 per tonne.

Spot prices of 62% iron ore for delivery to China rose $1 to $113 a tonne on Friday, according to SteelHome consultancy.

Analysts with GF Futures, however, said the gains in steelmaking ingredient prices were a bounce-back from previous losses, but they are not sustainable as demand at mills continued to ease.

Capacity utilisation rates of 247 blast furnaces at steel plants across China stood at 82.06% last week, down from 83.74% the week earlier, data from Mysteel consultancy showed. Prices for steel rebar and hot-rolled coils on the Shanghai Futures Exchange also increased due to production curbs as major steel producing regions are restricting power usages.

Construction used rebar rose 0.9% to 5,562 yuan a tonne.

Hot-rolled coils, used in the manufacturing sector, inched 0.4% higher to 5,583 yuan per tonne.