Chinese steel futures prices again moved little on Friday as the market awaited the next trigger for a more serious price move. Iron ore too confirmed its newfound holding point at slightly over $80/tonne.

Three deals on the GlobalORE trading platform were concluded on Friday, including one fixed price settlement for 170,000 t of 62% Fe PB fines at $81.30/dry metric tonne cfr Qingdao for November delivery. The grade had sold at $84/dmt on Tuesday just before the post-holiday surge came to an end, Kallanish notes.

Two more deals were settled against the Platts 62% Fe index, one for 80,000t of MNP fines with no premium or discount and one for 170,000t of PB fines at a $0.30/dmt premium.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai Futures Exchange saw a shift in volumes towards the May 2015 contract, which overtook the January contract for the first time. While the January 2015 contract closed up Yuan 4/t on Friday at Yuan 2,646/t ($431/t), the May contract closed down Yuan 9/t at Yuan 2,610/t. The January 2015 contract for hot rolled coil closed down Yuan 8/t at Yuan 2,860/t.