The Baltic exchange’s main sea freight index rose on Friday and marked its first weekly gain in four, steered by strong gains across vessel segments.

The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels ferrying dry bulk commodities, gained 188 points, or 7%, at 2,857. The index rose more than 17% this week, its best since February.

The capesize index rose by 447 points, or 15.4%, to a two-week high at 3,346. The capesize index also notched a weekly rise of more than 32%, its biggest weekly gain since the one ending Feb. 19.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes of coal and steel-making ingredient iron ore, rose by $3,713 to $27,752.

Dalian iron ore futures rose to its highest in more than three weeks on Friday, as a rebound in steel inventory in top producer China suggested that demand for the raw material remained brisk

The panamax index gained 98 points, or 3.1%, at 3,302, a peak since September 2010.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, went up by $882 to $29,718.

The supramax index rose by 40 points to 2,592, the highest as per Refinitiv Eikon data going back to 2017.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nishara Karuvalli Pathikkal in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)