BEIJING: Iron ore futures rebounded on Wednesday, as better-than-expected industrial profits data in top consumer China buoyed sentiment, although lingering demand concerns amid persistent weakness in the country’s crisis-hit property market curbed gains. The most-traded January iron ore on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended daytime trading 0.59% higher at 846.5 yuan ($115.89) a metric ton.

The benchmark October iron ore on the Singapore Exchange rose 0.82% to $115.95 a ton at 0701 GMT. Profits at China’s industrial firms in August surged 17.2% year-on-year, compared to a 6.7% decline in July, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

China’s central bank said it would implement monetary policy in a “precise and forceful” manner to support economic recovery. The key steelmaking ingredient recouped some losses recorded in the previous two sessions ahead of the upcoming holiday break after a flurry of pre-holiday restocking ended.