* Chinese restocking ore but in modest volumes
By Manolo Serapio Jr
SINGAPORE, June 10 (Reuters) - Spot iron ore prices extended gains on Friday as key indexes rose for a third straight session with Chinese steelmakers slowly boosting stockpiles.
"We are seeing restocking but not by a huge amount. I think unless we see a strong recovery in steel prices, iron ore prices will not be moving much," said Henry Liu, regional head of commodity research at Mirae Asset Securities in Hong Kong.
"If you don't have clear picture about the price trend, you won't increase your inventory too much."
In a sign Chinese steel demand may falter next month, leading Chinese steelmaker Baoshan Iron and Steel said on Thursday it will cut prices of its key products for July by 100-200 yuan ($15-30) per tonne.
Shanghai rebar futures were little changed at 4,854 yuan per tonne by 0531 GMT.
Iron ore imports by China, the world's No. 1 consumer of the steelmaking ingredient, rose a marginal 0.8 percent to 53.3 million tonnes in May from the previous month, data showed on Friday.
Traders expect imports to fall in June along with the seasonal weakness in China's steel market during the summer along with the risk on steel output from the state's power rationing seen lasting through September.
Australian 62 percent Newman fines were offered at $176-$178 a tonne, including freight, on Friday, up from $175-$177 the previous day, said Chinese consultancy Umetal.
Indian ore with 63.5 percent iron content was quoted at $178-$180 compared with $177-$179 on Thursday, Umetal said.
"Because the whole Chinese economy is cooling off, we're not going to see steel prices surge," said Mirae Asset's Liu.
"Construction remains a bright spot that's why we're seeing some support for long products and that's boosting iron ore prices a bit. But that is subject to the government's tightening policy."
China has been tightening credit, including repeated increases in cash reserve requirements for banks and hikes in interest rates, in a bid to tame inflation that is running near a three-year high.
Key iron ore indexes, based on Chinese spot prices, rose for a third day on Thursday after losing around 6 percent last month.
The Steel Index's 62 percent benchmark .IO62-CNI=SI rose 90 cents to $172.60 a tonne and Metal Bulletin's similar gauge .IO62-CNO=MB gained 75 cents to $171.99.
Platts own 62 percent index IODBZ00-PLT was steady at$173.75.
Prices of forward swaps mostly rose on Thursday.
The Singapore Exchange-cleared June contract edged up 67 cents to $173.50 a tonne, July added 66 cents to $173.08 and August climbed 59 cents to $172.42.
($1 = 6.477 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Ed Lane, sourced Thomson Reuters)
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