This Friday, gold ore futures Iron ended a series of six days of decline, registering a slight increase thanks to the persistence of low prices for certain ingredients in the steel industry.

The most traded May iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) in China closed the morning session in up 1.21% to 795 yuan ($114.16) per metric ton.

The contract lost 2.82% this week. The price of Reference for iron ore to be delivered in February to the Singapore Stock Exchange was up 0.97% to $104.65 per ton at 07:00 GMT.

The contract fell by 1.59% from one week to the other one.

The continued decline in iron ore prices has helped alleviate market pessimism, allowing steel mills to source more ore and maintain their margins beneficiaries before the Chinese Lunar New Year, according to a market note from Shanghai metals dated January 22.

Other steel-making ingredients on the DCE increased, with coking coal and coke increasing by respectively 2.84% and 2.59%.

The steel reference prices on the Stock Exchange Shanghai futures have strengthened.

The price of rebar increased by 0.58%, that of hot-rolled coils of 0.52%, that of wire rod of 0.38% and that of stainless steel remained unchanged.