Brazilian court clears BHP, Vale and Samarco of charges in 2015 dam disaster
A court in Belo Horizonte ruled that state prosecutors failed to prove that "individual actions" directly contributed to the collapse of the dam.
The iron ore price extended gains on Tuesday on hopes of additional policy support for China’s economy.
The most-traded September iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange ended daytime trade 1.3% higher at 714 yuan ($103.30) a tonne. It earlier touched 727.50 yuan, its highest since April 27.
Iron ore gains come after prices reached a six month low last week amid speculation about new rules governing state-owned enterprises’ bond issuances, and as China’s housing regulator ordered real estate brokers to reduce transaction and leasing service fees to support the property sector.
“We expect commodity markets to remain reactive to any signs of policy support. That should keep iron ore prices volatile in the short term,” Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Vivek Dhar said in a note.
China’s iron ore imports dropped 9.8% in April from the month before but rose 5.1% from April last year as buyers anticipated strong demand during the peak spring construction season, though it turned out otherwise.
Overall, Chinese overseas shipments expanded 8.5% from a year earlier to $295 billion — slowing from the double-digit gain in March. Imports, though, dropped 7.9% to $205 billion, much worse than the median projection of a 0.2% decline. That left a trade surplus of $90 billion for the month.
“Neighboring countries such as Japan and South Korea are disappointed as they had expected positive effects from China’s reopening of their economy,” said Ding Shuang, chief economist for Greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered Plc.
(With files from Reuters and Bloomberg)
