Iron ore futures in China rebounded to finish higher on Thursday after a 17 percent drop from this week's peak pulled investors back into the commodity where open contracts have fallen to the lowest level since May. China's iron ore futures touched a 33-month high on Monday in a speculator-driven rally in commodities that forced Chinese exchanges to hike trading fees to tame prices.
After falling around 6 percent each on Tuesday and Wednesday, the most-traded iron ore for January delivery on the Dalian Commodity Exchange dropped another 4.7 percent intraday on Thursday to a low of 546 yuan ($80) a tonne. That marked a 17 percent drop from Monday's peak of 656.50 yuan, which was its strongest since February 2014. By afternoon trading, the contract had trimmed losses and closed 0.7 percent higher at 577 yuan.
"Where market gets strong momentum in one direction or another you can get speculators joining in," said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets. As prices tanked, open interest, or open contracts, on Dalian iron ore futures slid to 1.2 million lots on Wednesday from 2.09 million lots on November 7. The losses in futures had pulled down spot iron ore prices, with the benchmark 62-percent grade for delivery to China's Qingdao port slipping 0.4 percent to $72.42 a tonne on Wednesday, according to data from Metal Bulletin.
The spot benchmark touched a two-year high of $79.81 on November 11. Steel futures also recovered with iron ore amid expectations of tighter Chinese supply as Beijing pushes ahead with anti-pollution measures that had forced some mills to halt output. Air quality in China's smog-hit northern regions, which include the capital Beijing, worsened in October despite overall improvements over the course of the year, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Monday. China's northern Hebei province, the country's top steel-producing province, will suspend production of steel, coke and cement for several days to combat pollution, said Argonaut Securities analyst Helen Lau.