* Dalian futures up sharply for 2nd day after China holiday
* Shanghai rebar lags, not far above record low (Adds China data preview, updates prices)
By Manolo Serapio Jr
MANILA, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Dalian iron ore futures rallied 5 percent on Friday, advancing sharply for a second straight session after China's week-long National Day holiday, as steel producers restocked with some suppliers seen holding back offers to wait for better prices.
The most-traded January iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange DCIOcv1 closed up 4.7 percent at 391 yuan a tonne, adding to Thursday's 2 percent gain. It rose as much as 5 percent to hit the exchange-set ceiling of 392 yuan for the day.
"Some mills will need to restock on raw material after the holiday but I'm not sure how strong that would be," said a Shanghai-based iron ore trader.
"There is not much offer in the market and with prices increasing, some suppliers want to hold back cargo and try to offer later."
Iron ore futures on the Singapore Exchange also climbed, with the December contract SZZFZ5 rising almost 3 percent to $50.25 a tonne. Rising futures bode well for physical prices which have barely moved during China's Oct. 1-7 break.
Iron ore for immediate delivery to China's Tianjin port .IO62-CNI=SI rose 0.7 percent to $54.80 per tonne on Thursday, according to the Steel Index.
A slow steel market in China, which may push mills to reduce production and curb demand for iron ore, could cap any rally in prices of the raw material.
"We believe with mills continuing to operate at negative margins there is little upside in raw material prices," investment bank ANZ said in a note.
Steel demand in China, the world's biggest consumer, has continued to shrink this year amid a slowdown in the overall economy. China's steel consumption fell last year for the first time since 1981.
The temperature in northern China is likely to drop very soon, which could halt construction projects, said another Chinese trader. "Steel prices would be under more pressure," he said.
Rebar, a steel product used in construction, ended 1 percent higher at 1,852 yuan a tonne on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBcv1 . The most-active January contract touched a record low of 1,815 yuan on Sept. 30.
A deluge of data from China in the coming weeks is likely to point to further weakness in the world's second-largest economy, reinforcing expectations that Beijing will roll out more stimulus measures to ward off a sharper slowdown. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N12303J
Rebar and iron ore prices at 0701 GMT
Contract
Last
Change Pct Change SHFE REBAR JAN6
1852
+19.00
+1.04 DALIAN IRON ORE DCE DCIO JAN6
391
+17.50
+4.69 SGX IRON ORE FUTURES DEC
50.25
+1.33
+2.72 THE STEEL INDEX 62 PCT INDEX
54.8
+0.40
+0.74 METAL BULLETIN INDEX
55.97
+2.83
+5.33
Dalian iron ore and Shanghai rebar in yuan/tonne Index in dollars/tonne, show close for the previous trading day