* Weak China PMI shows stimulus yet to revive demand - Argonaut
* Spot iron ore fell nearly 11 pct in July
* Dalian volumes hit record high in July amid volatility (Adds Dalian volumes in July, updates prices)
By Manolo Serapio Jr
MANILA, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Chinese steel and iron ore futures fell on Monday from their highest levels in nearly a month, reflecting persistent worries over demand amid more signs of a slowing economy.
China's factory activity shrank the most in two years as new orders fell, dashing hopes that the world's second-largest economy may be steadying, a private survey showed on Monday.
That followed a downbeat official survey on Saturday which showed growth at manufacturing firms unexpectedly stalled, reinforcing views that the cooling economy needs more stimulus even as it faces fresh risks from a stock market slump. ID:nL3N10C04Q
The weaker readings show "that previous monetary and fiscal measures have yet to revive domestic demand", said Helen Lau, analyst at Argonaut Securities.
The most-traded rebar for January delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBcv1 closed down 0.7 percent at 2,078 yuan ($330) a tonne, after earlier peaking at 2,132 yuan.
On the Dalian Commodity Exchange, the January iron ore contract DCIOcv1 ended 0.7 percent lower at 363 yuan a tonne, off an initial high of 376.50 yuan.
Both session peaks for rebar and iron ore were their highest since July 6.
Construction activity in China has slowed during summer, further curbing demand for steel and keeping prices weak, traders said.
"With this background, I don't think there's any support for iron ore prices to move up," said a Shanghai-based trader.
Spot iron ore spiked to a four-week high of $55.30 a tonne on July 29. Traders say that was pushed higher by expectations that Chinese steel mills may produce more ahead of output curbs that Beijing was likely to impose this month and next ahead of a major parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of China's victory in World War II in September.
Due to the anti-pollution curbs, "as much as 6 million tonnes of steel production may be forced to be shut, leading to 10 million tonne reduction in iron ore demand", ANZ analysts said in a note.
Iron ore for immediate delivery to China's Tianjin port .IO62-CNI=SI slid 3.1 percent to $52.90 a tonne on Friday, according to the Steel Index, retreating after the surge earlier in the week. Prices rose 4.3 percent last week, the most since early May, but still lost almost 11 percent in all of July.
Amid volatile prices, volume of iron ore futures traded on the Dalian exchange surged to a record 32.4 million contracts in July. That was equivalent to 3.2 billion tonnes of iron ore, more than double the size of annual global seaborne trade. ID:nL3N10E2T9
Rebar and iron ore prices at 0735 GMT
Contract
Last
Change Pct Change SHFE REBAR JAN6
2078
-14.00
-0.67 DALIAN IRON ORE DCE DCIO JAN6
363
-2.50
-0.68 SGX IRON ORE FUTURES SEP
51.15
+0.48
+0.95 THE STEEL INDEX 62 PCT INDEX
52.9
-1.70
-3.11 METAL BULLETIN INDEX
53.41
-2.23
-4.01
Dalian iron ore and Shanghai rebar in yuan/tonne Index in dollars/tonne, show close for the previous trading day ($1 = 6.2087 Chinese yuan)