The price of iron ore jumped more than 1% to above USD 130 per tonne which will provide further strength today to the major miners listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

At China's Tianjin port the benchmark import price of 62% iron ore fines gained USD 1.40 to trade at USD 130.40 per tonne which is the highest price in almost 3 months.

The improving iron price rise follows an improvement in the steel industry within China, which uses around two thirds of the seaborne iron ore annually.

The impact of the improving iron ore price is evident in the major miners, with stocks leveraged to the commodity jumping yesterday with Fortescue Metals Group outstanding with a 6% leap to USD 3.71. Mining heavyweight BHP Billiton gained USD 0.76, or 2.27% to USD 34.19 while Rio Tinto was up USD 0.63, or 1.14% to USD 56.15.