Many of these articles only look at 1 aspect or item reflecting on prices rather than the whole picture-I had mentioned a synergy of ca 8 things pushing up prices. One article by an apparent shorter said prices were only rising because China was buying ahead of Australias cyclone season-while ignoring all the 8 reasons for the price rise,and failing to even mention this means Australia is an uncertain provider and even failing to mention the new 30% Australian export tax could have something to do w it,let alone the improving Chinese and USA economies and the fact India has become an iron importer etc.- emphasis added
Australia shares up as China iron ore imports jump
Reuters – 11 hours ago (Adds comment)
MELBOURNE, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose 0.3 percent on Thursday, revived by much stronger-than-expected Chinese trade data which signalled economic strength in Australia's largest customer.
Rio Tinto Ltd rose 0.4 percent to A$67.10 and Fortescue Metals advanced 2.3 percent A$4.85 after data showed China's imports of iron ore rose 7.8 percent in December to a record 70.94 million tonnes.
"The iron ore import number is very positive. Some people are warning of a big correction in iron ore prices but we actually think demand is going to remain quite solid going forward because of recovering steel demand and new steel capacity coming onstream," said Henry Liu, analyst at Mirae Asset .
Iron ore prices have jumped more than 80 percent from three-year lows in September, to 15-month highs following a revival in demand from top buyer China, whose monthly imports topped 70 million tonnes for the first time in December.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose 15 points to 4,723, according to the latest data. It rose 0.4 percent on Wednesday to snap a three-day losing streak.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index gained 0.4 percent to 4,119.1, a fresh 5-year closing high.
China's exports in December grew 14.1 percent from a year earlier to hit a seven-month peak, data showed, trouncing market expectations for 4 percent. Imports grew 6 percent.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars also firmed on the good portent for commodity prices and their exports.
"Regional markets are mostly firmer on the back of China's trade balance numbers which smashed expectations," said Stan Shamu, strategist at IG Markets.
