The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities, rose on Friday, marking a monthly gain, supported by increasing demand for the capesize vessel segment.

The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, edged up by 14 points, or 0.8%, to 1,815 points.

The index has recorded a 7.7% surge this month, ending the week on a positive note.

The capesize index rose 70 points, or 2.6%, to 2,820. The index posted a weekly increase, marking a monthly gain of 34.3%.

Average daily earnings for capesize vessels, which typically transports 150,000-ton cargoes such as iron ore and coal, increased by $581 to $23,389.

Iron ore futures extended declines to end the week lower, as softening near-term demand and bleak factory data from top consumer China weighed on sentiment.

The panamax index was down by 25 points or about 1.5% to 1,693 points. The contract was down for a third consecutive week, marking a monthly decline of 8.2%.

Average daily earnings for panamax vessels, which usually carries about 60,000-70,000 tons of coal or grain cargo, lost $226 to $15,240.

Among smaller vessels, the supramax index was down by 8 points or 0.6% to 1278 points and recorded a monthly decline of 13.9%.

Source: Reuters reported by Anmol Choubey in Bengaluru and edited by Ravi Prakash Kumar