HANOI: Dalian iron ore futures rose on Tuesday after a five-session slide, as Chinese buyers ramped up purchases ahead of public holidays later in the week.

The most-traded September iron ore on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 2.8% to 766 yuan ($105.88) per metric ton by the midday break. The contract jumped as much as 4.1% earlier in the session. Chinese markets will be closed on Thursday and Friday for the Tomb-Sweeping Day, so all the buying is compressed into the first three days of the week, said a trader. Hopes that Chinese steel mills will exercise some sort of production curbs in an oversupplied market, are also boosting prices in the ferrous complex, said the trader.

This supported struggling Chinese iron ore prices, which shed 20% in the first quarter - the biggest since the third quarter of 2021 - due to subdued demand as construction activities lagged in China. “Market is happy to bite and latch onto to any bullish story... March has been really volatile... It’s practically a roller coaster and really good profit for the funds that are pushing in either direction,” said the trader.

The benchmark May iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was down 0.4% at $100.90 a metric ton as of 0339 GMT. Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mostly up. The most-active May rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange strengthened 1.2% to 3,447 yuan a ton, hot-rolled coil climbed 2.5% to 3,685 yuan, wire rod increased 2% to 3,747 yuan, and stainless steel gained 1.1% to 13,425 yuan. Steelmaking ingredient Dalian coking coal fell 0.8% to 1,444 yuan a ton, while coke inched up 0.2% at 1,965.50 yuan.