BEIJING, Oct 21 (Reuters) – Iron ore futures prices traded largely within a tight range on Tuesday, as investors' focus turned to a meeting of China's top leadership that will chart the economic policy of the world's second-largest economy for the next five years. The country's Communist Party leadership began a four-day closed-door meeting on Monday that is expected to culminate with the outline, although the full plan and its development targets won't be released until March 2026. The meeting comes after a string of data showed that China's crisis-hit property sector remained a drag on steel consumption, which also weighed on prospects for consumption for iron ore, a key steelmaking ingredient. The most-traded January iron ore contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) was flat at 768.5 yuan ($107.89) a metric ton, as of 0214 GMT. It touched the lowest level since August 20 at 760 yuan. The benchmark November iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was little changed at $103.55 a ton, as of 0207 GMT, after hitting the lowest since October 1 at $102.85. Elsewhere, BHP Group on Tuesday struck an upbeat note on global iron ore demand even as it warned of cooling growth in China. China's crude steel output slid to a 21-month low in September, dragged by sluggish demand and shrinking steel margins. First-quarter iron ore output from BHP, the world's third-largest supplier, slightly missed estimates due to maintenance works at Port Hedland. Coking coal and coke, other steelmaking ingredients, slid 2.67% and 2.01%, respectively. Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange mostly lost ground as lacklustre demand weighed. Rebar lost 0.56%, hot-rolled coil dipped 0.4%, wire rod fell 0.8%, while stainless steel added 0.44%. ($1 = 7.1230 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Amy Lv and Colleen Howe; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)
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