BEIJING: Iron ore continued to rise on Wednesday, aided by improved Chinese economic data, although lower than-expected steel output and a protracted property crisis triggered concerns over reduced demand, capping gains.

The most-traded January iron ore on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) rose 0.69% to 870.5 yuan ($119.19) a metric ton as of 0244 GMT, an increase for the sixth consecutive session.

The benchmark November iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.17% higher at $117.7 a ton as of 0304 GMT.

China’s third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.9% from last year, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Wednesday, beating analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 4.4% increase in the world’s second-biggest economy.

China’s property sales and investment, however, posted double-digit declines as efforts to support big cities failed to bolster confidence in an industry struggling to emerge from crisis, although the pace of contraction slowed.

China’s crude steel output in September fell 5% from August and was down 5.6% from a year before, official data showed, as more steel makers cut production due to high raw material prices and weak demand in the world’s biggest steel producer.

“The key is still how steel market actually performs as it will affect needs for the upstream raw materials,” said Cheng Peng, a Beijing-based analyst at Sinosteel Futures.