BEIJING: Dalian iron ore futures consolidated in a tight range on Wednesday, as emerging hopes of more stimulus from top consumer China bolstered sentiment while thin trade because of the Christmas holiday in many regions curbed gains.

The most-traded May iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) traded 0.13% lower at 775 yuan ($106.18) a metric ton, as of 0247 GMT.

It hit an intra-day high at 782 yuan a ton earlier in the session.

The Singapore Exchange was closed for Christmas. “Cautious stance against demand outlook and high portside stocks acted as headwinds, limiting upside potential,” analysts at Xinhu Futures said in a note.

“But the continuous winter stocking from steel mills and expectations that the falling pace of hot metal output will slow down also provided some support, so ore prices are likely to be rangebound.”

Hot metal output is typically used to gauge iron ore demand.

Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE were mixed, with coking coal up 1.05% and coke down 0.23%.

Most steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange posted gains.

Iron ore rises on expectations of Chinese pre-holiday restocking

Rebar ticked up 0.27%, hot-rolled coil nudged up 0.09%, wire rod added 0.94% while stainless steel shed 0.42%.

“Overall, there is not much contradiction in supply and demand fundamentals in the steel market,” analysts at Galaxy Futures said in a note.

“Steel products continued to destock in part because the construction steel consumption has showed unusual resilience in a sluggish demand season thanks to more capital flowing into construction projects.”