BEIJING/MANILA: Benchmark iron ore futures on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange erased early losses to close higher on Friday on emerging signs of a recovery in global steel demand, but the raw material still posted a weekly fall as mills' appetite for it waned.

Weekly capacity utilisation rates at 163 blast furnaces at mills across China stood at 84.86% as of Sept. 11, the lowest level since May, data compiled by consultancy Mysteel showed. The most-traded iron ore futures contract, for January delivery, finished 0.8% higher at 837 yuan ($122.45) a tonne. It fell 2.4% this week.

China's steel exports may increase slightly this month due to the recovery in global steel demand and a narrowing price gap between Chinese export prices and those of competitors, according to consultancy Mysteel.

Steel futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange also managed to recover from early losses, with the most-traded construction rebar up 0.1% at 3,665 yuan per tonne.

Hot-rolled coils, used in cars and home appliances, gained 0.6% to 3,779 yuan per tonne.

The November contract for stainless steel on the Shanghai bourse slipped 0.4%, however, to 14,215 yuan a tonne.

Dalian coking coal gained 0.2% to 1,257 yuan per tonne. Dalian coke dropped 0.1% to 1,976.50 yuan.

Rio Tinto parted ways with its CEO and two senior executives on Friday, bowing to mounting shareholder criticism of the destruction of two significant Aboriginal rock-shelters and the global miner's limited initial response.