Iron ore prices jump on bullish outlook

Iron ore prices jumped by around 6% in China today amid increasingly bullish sentiment surrounding the outlook for demand in 2018.

Over recent months, Chinese iron ore prices have been hit by the government plans to implement streel production cuts over the winter as part of measures to tackle pollution.

Iron ore on China Dalian Commodity Exchange reached an intraday high of Rmb464.5 ($70.01), an increase of over 10% on the four-month low of October 30.

The plans to curtail production erased the gains made in the mid-summer when iron ore prices surged on hopes that a strengthening global economic outlook would lift demand.

Today's increase indicates traders are feeling confident that the market will see strong demand next year when the production curbs expire.