Iron ore advanced — after dropping the most in a month in the previous session — on speculation China will ease virus curbs and take more steps to revive its property market.

Chinese real-estate stocks rose in Hong Kong on Monday on optimism the worst of the slump is over after Bloomberg reported that regulators told the biggest state-owned banks to provide financing worth at least $85 billion to the sector.

The steel-making ingredient has almost halved from a peak in early March due to the property crisis as well as frequent virus lockdowns around China stemming from Beijing’s strict Covid Zero policy.

A sustained recovery in China’s infrastructure activity, as well as a soft landing for the construction sector, remains contingent on a relaxation of Covid Zero, Vivek Dhar, a commodities analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a note. While it’s unlikely that a complete reversal of the policy will take place at the National Congress on Oct. 16, a gradual easing is on the cards, he said. 

Iron ore rose 1.3% to $93.45 a ton in Singapore as of 10:47 a.m. local time after falling 3.4% on Monday. Chinese markets are closed for the Golden Week holidays.