BEIJING: Iron ore futures rose on Friday, with the Dalian benchmark price on track for a fifth consecutive weekly gain on optimism around China’s steel demand as the country entered its peak spring construction season.

The upbeat mood lifted construction steel rebar’s benchmark price in China, the world’s biggest steel producer, to its strongest since June, with other steelmaking ingredients also pushing higher.

Iron ore’s most-traded May contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange rose as much as 2.6% to a contract-high 932.50 yuan ($133.92) a tonne in early trade. It was up more than 2% for the week.

On the Singapore Exchange, the steelmaking ingredient’s benchmark April contract climbed 2.3% to $130.55 a tonne, the highest since Feb. 21.

“Iron ore futures pushed higher amid the prospect of a busy construction period in China,” ANZ commodity strategists said in a note.

Traders continued to defy warnings from Chinese regulators against excessive price speculation on iron ore, with sentiment also bullish ahead of next week’s set of activity data, which are expected to show the world’s second-largest economy rebounding after dropping its stringent zero-COVID policy.

“China will release two months’ worth (January and February) of activity data on Wednesday, and we should see an approximate picture of economic growth in the first quarter,” ING economists said.

“Home prices should be stable in the first two months but should pick up more in the coming quarters as there are still down payments on deposit accounts waiting for confidence in the housing market to return.”

Rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was up 1.4%, as of 0230 GMT, hot-rolled coil rose 1.3%, and wire rod climbed 1.2%. Stainless steel dipped 0.9%. Coking coal and coke were up 1.1% and 2.3%, respectively, on the Dalian exchange.