Iron ore futures prices continued to gain for a second straight session on Wednesday. Although mixed factory data in China, the main consumer country, has limited gains, iron ore futures prices are being helped by lower shipments and resilient demand

The most traded iron ore contract in September on the Chinese commodity exchange in Dalian (DCE) rose by 0.68% to 736.5 yuan (102.57 dollars) per metric ton in September, at 02:50 GMT. The August reference price of iron ore on the Singapore Stock Exchange was up by 0.34% to $96.1 per ton at 02:40 GMT. Analysts at Everbright Futures reported that iron ore shipments from major suppliers, Australia and Brazil, fell after the sharp rise in production at the end of the last quarter