Chinese steel futures close lower Thursday

Shanghai Futures Exchange steel contracts closed lower on Thursday.

The most-active rebar futures for January 2027 finished the day session at 3,024.00 yuan (about 450.17 U.S. dollars) per tonne, down 0.49 percent from the previous settlement.

The hot-rolled coil futures for January 2027 settled at 3,170.00 yuan (about 471.91 U.S. dollars) per tonne, down 0.66 percent.

Rebar is mainly used in construction for buildings, bridges and infrastructure. Hot-rolled coil is a flat steel product widely used across the manufacturing sector, including in automobiles, home appliances, machinery and pipes.

Both contracts are among the most actively traded steel futures in the world and serve as key price references for the Chinese and global steel markets

Tokyo stocks ended mixed Thursday, as selling of artificial intelligence- and semiconductor-related shares weighed on the benchmark Nikkei stock index, while buying of shares in companies that posted strong earnings supported the broader market.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 429.23 points, or 0.7 percent, from Wednesday to close at 60,819.36.

The broader Topix index, meanwhile, finished 7.94 points, or 0.2 percent, higher at 3,937.33.

Both indexes rose in the morning session, with buying of AI- and chip-related stocks continuing after a strong quarterly report from major U.S. data center operator CoreWeave Inc. revived confidence in AI spending, analysts said.

But selling of those shares picked up in the afternoon, dragging the tech-heavy Nikkei into negative territory.

The Topix rose for a fourth straight trading session, supported by investors turning to relatively undervalued domestic-demand stocks and to shares of companies reporting robust earnings.