Baltic Dry Index Scales to Six-week High

The Baltic Exchange's dry bulk sea freight index extended its rally on Tuesday to hit its highest in more than six weeks, supported by a jump in the large vessel segment.

The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, added 207 points, or 11.03%, to 2,083, touching its highest level since March 25.

"The dry bulk market has continued to outperform expectations... Spot Cape activity remains elevated in the key loading regions of Australia (iron ore), Brazil (iron ore) and West Africa (bauxite)," Jefferies analysts wrote in a note.

The capesize index jumped 21.2%, to 3,239 points.

"Overall, we expect the market is likely to stay strong in the near to medium term, particularly in the capesize segment," said Filipe Gouveia, BIMCO shipping market analyst.

"Capesizes have been benefiting from strong Chinese iron ore import demand,"Gouveia added.

Average daily earnings for capesize vessels, which typically transport 150,000-ton cargoes of iron ore and coal, among others, increased $4,698 to $26,864.

The panamax index was up by 65 points, or about 3.5%, to 1,949.

Average daily earnings for panamax vessels, which usually carry about 60,000-70,000 tons of coal or grain cargo, added $593 to $17,545.

Iron ore futures prices were largely unchanged following a strong increase the previous day, as investors reacted to proposed property stimulus measures and post-holiday period restocking at furnaces.

Among smaller vessels, the supramax index also edged up three points to 1,461.

(Reuters - Reporting by Rahul Paswan; Editing by Shreya Biswas)