Reuters reported that Shanghai steel futures fell on Friday, snapping a three day rise after China second rate cut in less than a month raised concern of a sharper economic slowdown that is hurting demand in the world top steel market.

The most traded rebar contract for October delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped 0.3% to CNY 4,080 a tonne by 0528 GMT. For the week, rebar is down less than half a percent.

Rebar is tracking losses across commodities and equities, as investors moved warily ahead of the US nonfarm payrolls data due later in the day.

An iron ore trader in Shanghai said "People are worried that the GDP data next week will be much lower than expected. Also a rate cut will push up demand, but the effect will not be felt quickly."

Steel prices in China are down more than 2% this year reflecting weak demand that has prompted some steel mills to curb output to cut losses that reached about CNY 1 billion in the first quarter.

Source - Reuters

(www.steelguru.com)