Although a trade truce between the two countries kept prices on track for a weekly rise, iron ore futures prices fell on Friday due to signs of a short-term demand slowdown and increasing caution about resolving the Sino-American tariff war.

The most traded iron ore contract in September on the Chinese commodity exchange in Dalian (DCE) fell by 0.75% to 729.5 yuan (101.3 dollars) per metric ton, at 02:28 GMT, at 02:28 GMT, registering an increase of 4.7% since the start of the week. The June reference price of iron ore on the Singapore Stock Exchange was down by 0.68% to 100.5 dollars per ton at 02:20 GMT, a gain of 3.7%

According to a survey by the consulting firm Mysteel, the average daily production of hot metal, an indicator of demand for iron ore, fell by 0.4% compared to the previous week to around 2.45 million tons as of May 15, weighing on sentiment and prices.