Iron ore prices fell Tuesday for a second straight day after Chinese authorities said they were monitoring prices and intervening in the market to rein in a price rally.
China’s Development and Reform Commission said Monday it had conducted a survey on the price indexes of several commodities, including steel and iron ore, to maintain a healthy market, which followed two warnings last week on reinforcing the supervision of the iron ore market.
According to Reuters, most-traded January iron ore (SCO:COM) on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange posted its biggest drop in more than a month, closing -2.6% to 951 yuan/metric ton ($132.96), while benchmark December iron ore on the Singapore exchange recently was -3.2% to $132.69/ton.
Potentially relevant stocks include BHP (NYSE:BHP), Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO), Vale (VALE), Fortescue (OTCQX:FSUMF), Glencore (OTCPK:GLCNF) (OTCPK:GLNCY) and Anglo American (OTCQX:AAUKF) (OTCQX:NGLOY).
“We are now witnessing high frequency smackdowns by the Chinese authorities as they intervene in the market for the fourth time in the last seven days,” Navigate Commodities’ managing director Atilla Widnell told Reuters.