The Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price is now up 15% over the past month despite the Pilbara-based iron ore miner releasing no specific news to the market since before Christmas 2018.
The Fortescue share price has probably been rising in line with the iron ore price that has shot up above US$75 per metric tonne today, compared to a price of US$62.03 per metric tonne on November 3 2018 according to data provided by Market Index.com.
The likes of Fortescue, BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) are all heavily leveraged to the iron ore price direction as major suppliers of the commodity that is a key steel-making ingredient.
China is a key driver of demand for the commodity thanks to its once-in-a-lifetime super-cycle construction boom that is ongoing if not at quite such a break-neck pace of a decade ago.
The rising iron ore price over the last month may well have caught some investors by surprise as well given China just reported its slowest annual growth since 1990 at 6.6%.
This goes to show the price of iron ore moves in mysterious ways, which is why it's impossible to know the short or medium term share price direction of the likes of Fortescue and Rio Tinto.
