Iron ore climbs one-week high on China demand hopes, easing COVID curbs

June 27 (Reuters) - Dalian and Singapore iron ore futures hit one-week highs on Monday, supported by hopes that Chinese steelmakers would restart dozens of blast furnaces idled due to slumping margins and weak demand to replenish inventories.

Easing COVID-19 restrictions in Shanghai and scrapped or relaxed testing mandates in several Chinese cities also buoyed markets battered over the last two weeks amid concerns over weak demand in the world's biggest steel producer.

The most-traded September iron ore on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange DCIOcv1ended daytime trade 4% higher at 775 yuan ($115.92) a tonne, after earlier touching 782.50 yuan, its highest since June 20.

On the Singapore Exchange, the steelmaking ingredient's front-month July contract SZZFN2 climbed up to 5.7% to $120.60 a tonne, its strongest since June 20.