BEIJING: Steel futures prices in China jumped on Monday, with hot-rolled coils and construction rebar climbing more than 3% at market open to narrow the gap with spot prices, as traders cheered a marginally improved consumption of industrial metals.

Apparent demand of five main steel products in China, including rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coils and others, gained for two consecutive weeks and was up 4.2% last week from early-November, data from Mysteel consultancy showed. “In the short term, property-related policy is expected to see improvement, which could probably lift market sentiment,” Galaxy Futures wrote in a note, warning that spot market still faces risk of lower costs and consumption. Spot prices of rebar and hot-rolled coils are about 400 yuan and 200 yuan higher, respectively, than the currently most-traded January futures contracts. Analysts with GF Futures noted that possible marginal easing of real estate financing situation is not likely to reverse steel demand of January deliveries.