Iron ore strengthened on Wednesday, as positive signals from top consumer China’s latest financial meeting and sound fundamentals boosted market sentiment.

The most-traded January iron ore on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended daytime trading 2.51% higher at 919.5 yuan ($125.63) a metric ton, the highest since March 17.

The benchmark December iron ore SZZFZ3 on the Singapore Exchange rose 1.94% to $121.45 a ton, as of 0706 GMT.

China will set up a mechanism to resolve local debt risks and manage local government debt, state media reported, citing a key twice-a-decade financial policy meeting held on Oct. 30-31.

Beijing will also help with reasonable financing demands for all types of property enterprises and pursue policies that aim to meet housing demand.

“Lowering local debt is, to some extent, injecting liquidity into the downstream market, buoying sentiment and supporting demand for industrial metals,” said Pei Hao, a Shanghai-based analyst at brokerage firm FIS.

Iron ore is still most exposed to further policy support versus other commodities, analysts at Citigroup said, seeing further upside potential towards $130 a ton.

“Providing further support is lingering concerns over a possible supply disruption caused by potential labor strike in the West Australia, especially when there is a lack of clarity on progress of the issue,” Pei added.

Nearly 350 BHP BHP.AX iron ore rail workers in Australia approved industrial action plans that could include work stoppages of up to 24 hours.

A resistance level will be at 948 yuan a ton, said Cheng Peng, a Beijing-based analyst at Sinosteel Futures.

Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE weremixed, with coking coal DJMcv1 up 0.19% whilecoke DCJcv1 was little changed.

Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange broadly recorded gains. Rebar SRBcv1 added 0.54%, hot-rolled coil SHHCcv1 climbed 0.49%, and wire rod SWRcv1 advanced 0.33%.

Stainless steel SHSScv1 fell 2.09%.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Amy Lv and Dominique Patton in Beijing; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Varun H K) 不锈钢展-2024第二十四届广州国际不锈钢工业展--The 24th China(Guangzhou)Int''l Stainless Steel Industry Exhibition 2024不锈钢展，2024不锈钢展会，2024不锈钢展览会，2024广州不锈钢展，2024广州不锈钢展会，2024广东不锈钢展，2024广东不锈钢展会，2024中国不锈钢展，2024中国不锈钢展会，2024不锈钢博览会-Stainless Steel Industry Exhibition,Stainless Steel expo, 2024 Stainless Steel exhibition, 2024 Stainless Steel expo, China Stainless Steel exhibition, China Stainless Steel expo,-Stainless Steel Industry event,Stainless Steel event, 2024 Stainless Steel event, 2024 Stainless Steel event, China Stainless Steel event, China Stainless Steel event