BEIJING, July 17 (Reuters) - China iron ore prices rose nearly 3 percent on Monday after three sessions of losses, buoyed by firm economic data in the world's top producer.
China's economy grew 6.9 percent in the second quarter, faster than expected due to a pick up in industrial output and consumption, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday. The country's factory output grew 7.6 percent in June from a year earlier, while fixed-asset investment expanded 8.6 percent in the first half of this year, both beating forecasts. "The market used to hold a gloomy outlook on China's economy and expect weak demand in the property and infrastructure sectors. Now the new data proved these ideas to be wrong and helped to boost market confidence," said Bai Jing, analyst at Galaxy Futures.
The most-active iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange had risen 2.7 percent to 492.5 yuan ($72.76) a tonne by midday, after hitting their highest in 8 weeks at 492.5 yuan a tonne.
Stockpiles of imported iron ore at ports increased 400,000 tonnes to 139.7 million tonnes on Monday, according to data compiled by SteelHome consultancy.
"Despite the high iron ore stocks, demand for high-quality iron ore remains firm, as mills who use blast furnaces require more high-end raw material," said Bai.
The most-traded rebar futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained 1.9 percent to 3,646 yuan a tonne.
China's steel output rose 5.7 percent in June to a record 73.23 million tonnes, data from the National Statistics Bureau showed on Monday. Stocks of rebar held by Chinese traders dropped 1 percent to 370.4 million tonnes, the lowest since Dec,2016, the data from SteelHome showed.
Spot rebar prices dropped less than 0.1 percent to 3,891.4 yuan a tonne on Friday, according to data on the website of Mysteel Consultancy. ($1 = 6.7690 Chinese yuan renminbi)
