Reuters reported that China's imports of both iron ore and crude oil were the second highest on record in November,providing encouraging signals on demand for commodities in the world's second largest economy.

The strength in consumption customs data,came despite disappointing overall foreign trade data,showing overall imports were flat in November and exports rose just 2.9%.

Iron ore imports rose 17%from October to 65.78 million tonnes,while crude imports were up 3%on the month to 5.69 million barrels per day.

Mr Ben Le Brun market analyst at OptionsXpress in Sydney said that"It does appear,based on the evidence of the data,that the Chinese economy has bottomed out."

Mr Brun said that"Being the world's second largest oil consumer,indications of a sustained recovery in China's economy will be supportive for oil prices."