The Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price is off to a great start in early trading today, rising 2.53% to $17.05 at the time of writing.
There is no news out of Fortescue today, but its home sector is thriving. The S&P/ASX 200 Materials (ASX: XMJ) is the best-performing sector so far today, up 2.36%.
Fellow ASX mining shares are also rising. The Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price is up 2.11% to $98.38. The BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) share price is up 1.71% to $41.04.
Iron ore price up… for the moment
The big miners are likely being moved higher today by the rising iron ore price in recent days.
The iron ore price dipped slightly in overnight trading but is up 7.93% over the past week. Iron ore is currently fetching US$88.50 per tonne, according to Trading Economics.
This is boosting ASX iron ore shares, with the Fortescue share price up 12.5% over the past five trading days. BHP shares are up 8.4% and Rio Tinto shares are up 9.2% over the same period.
Fortescue is getting a bigger benefit because it's an iron ore pure play.
The iron ore price has almost halved in six months after reaching a 52-week peak of about $160 per tonne in March.
According to Trading Economics:
Chinese authorities emphasized that the zero-Covid policy will remain in place for the time being, erasing previous hopes that the economy would reopen and jeopardizing demand.
While holding a slight rebound since the beginning of November, iron ore prices are 45% down from the peak hit in March amid prevalent recession fears and woes in China's property sector.
Key manufacturing PMIs in China pointed to continued contraction in factory activity at the start of the fourth quarter.
Also, investment in the country's giant but debt-ridden property sector fell more than 8% year-on-year in the first three quarters of the year, pointing to increased hesitance for new building activity.
Low steel demand drove iron ore imports to fall by 4.7% in October.
Buy the dip strategists take note. The Fortescue share price dipped below $15 late last month. We haven't seen that since November last year.
Had you popped $10,000 into Fortescue shares on 31 October when they closed at $14.70, you'd be up $1,600 right now. Just sayin'.
Moving on…
Other commodities also up this week…
Other materials commodities up over the past week include silver, up 10.72% to US$21.358 per ounce.
The price is the highest since June as a result of the lower US dollar and weakening treasury bond yields.
This has contributed to an 8% lift in the South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) share price over the past five days. South32 operates one of the world's largest silver mines, located in Cannington in Queensland.
Pure-play ASX silver shares like Silver Mines Limited (ASX: SVL) have received an even bigger benefit.
Silver Mines shares are up 12.9% over the past five days. The company owns the undeveloped Bowdens Silver Project in New South Wales.
Copper prices are up 6.13% this week to US$3.68 per pound. This would be contributing to the boost in Rio Tinto shares, with the company operating the largest copper mine in the world, located in Chile.
According to Trading Economics: "Commodity trader Trafigura warned that global copper stocks have fallen to record lows, with current inventories enough to supply world consumption for just 4.9 days."
Other ASX copper shares receiving a boost this week include OZ Minerals Limited (ASX: OZL), the market's largest pure-play copper miner.
The Oz Minerals share price is up 6% this week to $26 per share.
