SGX iron ore dips as China property woes eclipse rebound in steel profits

Aug 3 (Reuters) - Iron ore futures fell in Singapore on Wednesday, while the Dalian benchmark contract swung back and forth, as a crisis engulfing property developers in top steel producer China outweighed improving margins at mills.

Iron ore's front-month September contract on the Singapore Exchange SZZFU2 was down 1.6% at $112.85 a tonne, as of 0330 GMT, extending losses to a fourth session.

On China's Dalian Commodity Exchange, the steelmaking ingredient's most-traded September contract DCIOcv1 ended volatile morning trade up 0.4% at 796 yuan ($117.88) a tonne.

After last week's solid gains for iron ore, sentiment has turned shaky. A private survey showed on Monday that China's July new home prices and sales volume both fell from a month earlier.

Already grappling with a debt crisis and weak demand, China's property market has been further rocked recently by a mortgage boycott.

Analysts said confidence is unlikely to be quickly restored despite government support for the industry.