Chinese steel futures prices were largely flat during Tuesday but had increased rapidly over the previous day’s trading and so closed up sharply from the previous settlement price. Economic data released on Tuesday was a boost to sentiment, especially investment and real estate figures, Kallanish notes.

The May rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed at CNY 3,594/t ($520/t), up CNY 133/tonne. Most of that increase however came during night trading and prices appeared to have settled at a new level. The same contract for hot rolled coil closed up CNY 71/t at CNY 3,538/t. Market watchers had mixed views about development over the coming days, with some predicting another fall and others noting that buying was still continuing on the spot market and this could push prices higher.

China’s real estate sales were up 25.1% year-on-year over January-February to 140.54 million square metres and real estate investment data was also firm (see separate article). One of the biggest drivers of sentiment however was fixed asset investment, which increased 8.9% y-o-y, compared to the 8.2% average of analyst forecasts compiled by Reuters. Industrial production meanwhile was up 6.3% y-o-y over January-February, the highest growth rate since August 2016.