The week opening saw iron ore prices gaining traction after tepid gains on last Friday

TSI’s benchmark 62 percent grade iron ore for immediate delivery to China .IO62-CNI=SI rose 3.9% to USD 85.20 a tonne, extending Friday's tepid gain of 0.4 percent

The most traded iron ore future contract for delivery in January on the Dalian Commodity Exchange also closed up by 1.5% to CNY 598 a tonne

There was a slight recovery in Chinese domestic steel prices after ages as outlined in “Rare rally in long prices in Chinese steel market”. The steel futures also recovered a bit in unison. January rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose nearly 2% to end at CNY 2,826 per tonne

Spot iron ore fell to USD 81.90 on last Thursday, its lowest since September 2009.

But the outlook remains fragile as the problems of Chinese steel market have not changed. In fact, China's factory output grew at the weakest pace in nearly six years in August while growth in other key sectors also cooled, raising fears the economy may be at risk of a sharp slowdown unless Beijing takes fresh stimulus measures.