BEIJING: Iron ore futures rose for a second session on Tuesday, as better-than-expected loan data from the world’s top iron ore consumer China and a stronger yuan bolstered investor sentiment.

The most-traded January iron ore on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) traded 1.36% higher at 854 yuan ($117.18) a metric ton, as of 0215 GMT.

The benchmark October iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.6% higher at $118.05 a metric ton, as of 0231 GMT, its highest level since March 31.

Chinese banks extended 1.36 trillion yuan in new yuan loans in August, up from 345.9 billion yuan in July, data from People’s Bank of China showed on Monday, higher than the estimated 1.20 trillion yuan in a Reuters poll.

This came after the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.1% in August from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday, after falling 0.3% in July.

“Better-than-expected Chinese credit data, signaling stabilization in household demand for mortgages, also boosted sentiment,” analysts at ING bank said in a note.

Other steelmaking ingredients also strengthened, with coking coal and coke on the DCE up 4.47% and 2.81%, respectively, to their highest levels in six months.

“The latest round of proposal to hike coke prices among coking plants buoyed sentiment,” said Pei Hao, a Shanghai-based analyst at international brokerage FIS.

“It also found some support from the recently rising prices in the seaborne coking coal market amid comparatively limited availability and steady demand for the moment.”