Iron ore suffered another day of losses with the steelmaking commodity sinking below $60 a tonne as a speculative frenzy in China cooled following pressure from local exchanges and regulators.
Chinese iron ore futures experienced a surge in trading volumes last month as speculators piled into the market, looking for quick and easy ways to bet on a pick-up in construction activity and rising steel production.
The frenzied trading on domestic Chinese exchanges pushed prices higher and fed through into the physical market where iron ore was trading at almost $70 a tonne late last month — its highest level in more than a year and almost 50 per cent above its January lows.