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Prices for iron ore cargoes with a 63.5% iron core content delivery in Tianjin were at US$120, hovering close to the three-month low of US$119.5 touched on 7 April.
Tropical cyclones in Australia missed iron ore export hubs, which eased worries that producers would need to pause shipments.
Elsewhere, lower steel output in China also helped maintain the pressure on prices,
Shares in Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) were down 0.56%, while BHP gained 0.24%.
Iron ore pellet producer Ferrexpo (LON:FXPO) was up 1.28%, shrugging off the low prices.
FTSE 100 was 20 points, or 0.26%, to 7,863.
Pound hits 10-month high
The pound hit a 10-month high against the dollar, with £1 getting you US$1.2517.
General US dollar weakness sent sterling higher as it becomes increasingly likely that the Fed will end its fiscal tightening soon.
However, the Bank of England is likely to continue to raise interest rates further to combat inflation, which has remained above 10% in the last six months.
Last week, the central bank’s chief economist Phil Huw said it could not be sure that it had raised interest rates enough to tame inflation.
To murky the waters further, Britain’s GDP ground to a halt in February.
Ocado (LON:OCDO) tops FTSE 100
FTSE 100 continued to trade in positive territory, with the index adding 19 points to 7,862 points.
Ocado was on top, up 1.8%, as the online retailer and robotics company experienced some positive read-across from AO World’s results which provided a rosier outlook for purely online players.
Shares in ASOS (LON:ASOS) and Boohoo were both also up, gaining 1.4% and 0.9%.
The white goods online player was able to upgrade profit guidance for the year, expected to come in at the top of the range of £37.5mln.
With a lack of economic news in the UK, all eyes head to the US, with a retail sales announcement set for midday.
However, the major news today likely to impact markets are earnings from US banks.
Today’s results from the likes of JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) are the first since the collapses of SVB and Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) and will shine the spotlight on the health of lending.
Europe going strong
Major bourses across Europe also continued to tread higher as investors are increasingly betting that central banks are about to end their aggressive rate hike policies.
DAX in Germany gained 0.35% on Friday, while the CAC 40 in France continues to break record highs despite the ongoing strikes in the nation, up 0.3%.
Stoxx 600, which represents 600 companies of different sizes across the continent, gained 0.3% while the Spanish Ibex 35 lagged slightly behind its peers, up 0.17%.
Following softer inflation figures from the US earlier in the week, investors have bet on central banks, especially the US Federal Reserve, on ending interest rate hikes.
Singapore, Australia, Canada, India and South Korea are already some of the nations that have halted further hikes, at least for now.
FTSE 100 was up 12 points to 7,854.
Miners lead the way
FTSE 100 started on the front foot, making gains of 17 points to 7,861.
Fresnillo (LON:FRES) and Glencore (LON:GLEN) lead the index, up 1.08% and 0.91%, as copper prices continue to hover above US$4.1/lbs.
At the other end, National Grid (LON:NG) is dragging the index having shed 1% after it said new government tax treatments are expected to have a "net adverse impact" on its underlying earnings in years to come.
The UK's introduction of "full expensing" relief for capital expenditure, which runs to March 2026 is set to be "economically neutral" overall to National Grid.
However, the company said the rule changes will result in reduced revenues in UK Electricity Transmission and UK Electricity Distribution businesses, alongside a corresponding increase in deferred tax liabilities calculated to IFRS standards.
These impacts will result in a net adverse effect on statutory and underlying earnings but are not expected to affect the company's results for the year just gone.
Some news across the broader market, and Superday issued a profit warning after it said sales grew at a pace slower than it had anticipated. The fashion brand added it might turn to the market to raise equity.
Elsewhere online electrical retailer AO World upgraded guidance thanks to positive traction from its efforts to reduce costs and improve margins and expects profits to come in at the top end of £37.5mln.
Gold continues to shine
Gold continues to flirt with year highs as investors await what looks to be a busy day with a raft of US banks releasing earnings, including JPMorgan and Citigroup.
The precious metal reached a year high in trading late yesterday at US$2,048 and has held levels above US$2,040 since.
On the banks, it will be the first time US lenders will have reported earnings in the wake of the SVB and Credit Suisse collapses, with all eyes firmly on how lending to businesses and consumers has held up.
“When JPMorgan reported at the end of its last fiscal year, the bank set aside a rather large reserve build of $1.4bn, as a result of a big increase in credit costs to $2.3bn on the back of a deterioration in the economic outlook, with the bank saying that they have a baseline assumption of a mild recession,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
“These concerns can only have risen further in light of recent events with the main focus on this US bank earnings season on how much the recent turmoil has hit the sectors profit numbers, not only in terms of the impact of loan demand, whether it be in mortgages or credit card lending, but also in terms of deposit inflow.”