Panamax Gains Buoy Baltic Sea Freight Index

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index edged up on Thursday, snapping a 14-session long streak of losses, propped up by gains in the panamax segment and slightly higher earnings for capesize vessels.

The Baltic index, which tracks rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels to ferry dry bulk commodities, rose one point, or 0.2%, to 431.

The capesize index slipped four points to a negative 187, down for the 40th consecutive session.

However, average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 170,000-180,000 tonne cargoes including iron ore and coal, rose $6 to $3,021.

The panamax index gained 10 points, or 1.9%, to 530.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, increased $92 to $4,773.

However, the "negative sentiment" for the panamax segment was likely to prevail in the aftermath of the Chinese New Year and uncertainty surrounding the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, ship broker Fearnleys said in a note on Wednesday.

The supramax index fell six points to 506. 

(Reporting by Anjishnu Mondal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)