The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, snapped 13 straight sessions of gains on Thursday, hurt by falling capesize rates.
The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, was down one point, or 0.1 percent, at 1,375 points. The capesize index lost eight points, or 0.3 percent, at 2,306 points.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 170,000-180,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were down $86 to $18,106. The panamax index was up eight points, or 0.6 percent, at 1,272 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, increased $69 to $10,220. The supramax index rose three points to 1,040 points.
Reporting by Harshith Aranya