Baltic Dry Index Extends Gains, Still Posts Weekly Decline

The Baltic Exchange's dry bulk sea freight index, which tracks rates for vessels transporting dry commodities, advanced for a second day on Friday, rising about 0.8% to 1,979 points, buoyed by the larger vessels.

The capesize index, which typically transports 150,000-ton cargoes such as iron ore and coal, increased by 0.7% to 2,835 points; and the panamax index, which usually carries 60,000-70,000 tons of coal or grain, rose 2.5% to 1,802 points.

Among smaller vessels, the supramax index fell 0.3% to a fresh one-week low of 1,456 points.

For the week, the benchmark index declined about 2.3%.