Capesize rates moved slower but gradually toward the $30,000 mark, due to the absence of Chinese trade participants during the Dragon Boat Festival holidays.
Therefore, the Capesize 5 time charter average rose by $738 day-on-day to $29,395 on Thursday, despite some market concerns about the longevity of the C3 contracts.
Strengthened by Capesize market, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) hiked to another peak at 1,738 points, up 1.94% day-on-day.
Slow shipping demand amid holidays
With the Chinese participants off for holidays period of Jun 25-27, the freight market seemed quieter than usual.
However, there was still moderate shipping demand in the Pacific market, with mining majors like Rio Tinto and BHP seeking for vessels to move iron ore for the west Australia to China route.
Despite the healthy demand, the indicative freight heard on the west coast Australia to China route was at high $9s/mt level, slightly down from the $10/mt recorded on previous days.
It was more muted at the Atlantic market as a standoff developed between the shipowners and charterers, where the freight indication heard for the Brazil-China route was in the range of $21/wmt to $23/wmt.
Bunker prices extend losses on coronavirus concerns
Bunker prices continued to extend losses amid market concerns over rising global coronavirus cases.
Thus, the VLSFO prices fell by $11.50/mt to $318.50/mt at the port of Singapore, due to bearish market sentiments.
Despite the bearish oil demand, the Brent Crude prices stabilized toward the level of $41 per barrel, while the WTI firmed up to the $39 per barrel level.
The uptick was attributed to positive crude futures on better US economic data as US durable goods orders jumped 15.8% in May, while US unemployment filings fell to 1.48 million in the week ended June 20, as compared to 1.51 million in previous week.