By Phoebe Sedgman
(Bloomberg) — Iron ore may post the longest winning run in 15 months should prices that rallied to an eight-week high gain for a sixth day on Wednesday, with Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. flagging the possibility of further rises.
“Market participants are expecting prices to continue to rise in the coming days,” ANZ said in a daily note. “Sentiment remains more optimistic as the market anticipates a pickup in China’s seasonal steel construction.”
Iron ore entered a bull market last week and is headed for the biggest monthly climb since December 2012 after BHP Billiton Ltd. said it will defer port works in Australia, and smaller suppliers including Atlas Iron Ltd. suspended output. A price floor may now be forming, according to ANZ and Pacific Investment Management Co. The commodity remains 69 percent below its record price reached in 2011, and Australian producers’ shares dropped on Wednesday.
Ore with 62 percent content at Qingdao rose 1.3 percent to $59.88 a dry metric ton on Tuesday, the highest level since March 4, according to Metal Bulletin Ltd. Another rise today would match the longest streak since Jan. 3, 2014.
Daily crude-steel output from major Chinese producers increased 5 percent in early April, researcher Mysteel.com said last week, citing data from the China Iron & Steel Association. There’ll be no net growth in iron ore supply in 2015 as additional output from lower-cost producers is offset by the closure of smaller, higher-cost mines, according to CLSA Ltd.
BHP lost 0.7 percent to A$32.19 at 12:35 p.m. in Sydney, trimming this year’s advance to 9.6 percent. Rio Tinto Group declined 0.8 percent to A$58.32, up 0.5 percent in 2015. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. dropped 4.5 percent to A$2.34, taking this year’s slump to 15 percent.