Bloomberg reported that steel reinforcement-bar futures in Shanghai extended a weekly drop as China's fixed asset investment dipped and industrial production slowed.
Rebar for delivery in January on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell as much as 0.5% to CNY 3,551 (USD 582) a metric tonne and was at CNY 3,559 at 10:44 AM local time. The most-active contract lost 0.9% last week, the first such drop in three weeks.
China's fixed asset investment, the main driver for building material demand, rose 20.2% in January through September, compared with a 20.3% rise the year through August, the National Bureau of Statistics said on October 18. Industrial production grew 10.2% in September, down from 10.4 percent in August, according to the statistics bureau.
Mr Dang Man an analyst at Maike Futures Co in Xi'an said that "Although data last Friday confirmed China's economy is rebounding, there's now concern about the dip in fixed asset investment and its impact on future building material demand.'