The members of the Federal Open Markets Committee said on Wednesday some additional tightening might be possible, but suggested it was on the verge of pausing future hikes in view of recent crisis in the banking sector.
Lifting market sentiment, the northern Chinese cities of Handan and Tangshan - two major steelmaking hubs - decided to remove the latest round of production curbs as air quality improved.
The latest emergency response in both hubs was implemented from March 17 and March 20, respectively. Local steel mills are typically required to curb production over the period. "It's normal to see an upward correction after a steep fall the previous day. And sentiment in the secondary market is recovering at the moment," said Pei Hao, a Shanghai-based senior analyst at the international brokerage firm FIS.
The most-traded May iron ore futures contract on Dalian
Commodity Exchange (DCE) consolidated at 870.5 yuan
($127.04) a tonne, as of 0215 GMT.
Prices of other steelmaking raw materials such as coking
coal and coke similarly recorded some gains with the former climbing 0.9% and the latter rising 0.37%.
A rebound in raw materials prices lent some support to the
steel market. Rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange edged up 0.14% to 4,160 yuan a tonne, hot-rolled coil gained 0.33%, and wire rod moved up 0.4%.
Stainless steel lost 0.57%.
($1 = 6.8521 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Amy Lv and Dominique Patton in Beijing; Editing
by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
