Back Above $100/ton, Highter IP A Positive, But inventory Levels Still Rising

Active Singapore futures in Iron ore have stabilized somewhat. We last just above $101/ton. Lows from late last week came in under $98/ton. We haven't been at these levels since August last year.

• China's better than expected activity figures in terms of strong industrial production, coupled with higher fixed asset investment, has likely helped sentiment at the margins.
• Property indicators still look weak, although with infrastructure spending up 6.3% ytd y/y, and state-owned enterprise investment spending rising, it is not all one way to the downside in terms of China data outcomes.
• At the end of last week though we still had inventories at China ports climb further. This continued the weekly run of increases going back to Nov last year. Until this rolls over we may see the upside on prices limited to a degree.