Baltic Index Snaps 10-day Winning Streak

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index fell on Thursday, breaking a 10-day winning streak, as rates for capesize vessels eased.

The Baltic index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities, fell 19 points, or 0.8%, to 2,499 points. On Wednesday, the index hit its highest since November 2010 at 2,518 points. "We certainly expect freight rates to come down from the highest that we've seen just during the spike now, but remain profitable for the remaining part of the year," said Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at BIMCO, adding the recent rally was mostly driven by rising freight rates out of the Atlantic markets, especially Brazil.

The capesize index dropped 7 points, to 5,036 points. Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 170,000-180,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, fell $370 to $37,644.

The panamax index fell 16 points, or 0.7%, to 2,234. Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, fell $128 to $17,898.

The supramax index inched down 3 points to 1,348.

Reporting by Anjishnu Mondal