Vale's ADR rose by 0.47% to US$15.06, while global peers Rio Tinto and CSN Mineração slipped. The market is still parsing contradictory signals from China, where infrastructure spending supports steel demand while property sector and manufacturing exports remain weak. Vale, the world's second-largest iron-ore exporter, benefits when Chinese mills value its high-grade ore to reduce blast-furnace emissions. This makes the ADR a proxy for China's steel appetite and the quality Vale can command over some Australian ores. The price action suggests that China's preference for high-graded ore will keep Vale's premium intact, while volume-driven Australian producers face a property-led demand trough. The next step is to watch whether China's next purchasing managers’ index print confirms an infrastructure-led recovery enough to lift the seaborne benchmark beyond its current range.