China to crack down on speculation in iron ore prices

BEIJING, Jan 6 (Reuters) - China's state planner on Friday said it will ramp up efforts to regulate prices of iron ore and crack down on malicious speculation of the metal.

The National Development and Reform Commission is highly concerned about iron ore's market price fluctuations, as it a recent sharp and rapid rise, it said in a statement.

"Given the fundamentals of iron ore market supply and demand are generally stable, the rapid price rises are obviously speculative," the state planner said.

The state planner will resolutely crack down on illegal activities such as price gouging and speculation to ensure smooth operation of the market, it added.

Iron ore prices went up on Friday, with the most-traded May iron ore on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange DCIOcv1 ending daytime trade 1.9% higher at 855 yuan ($124.83) a tonne, buoyed by China's latest moves to support its real estate market.

($1 = 6.8495 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Mark Porter)

((Ethan.Wang@thomsonreuters.com;))