"Moody's move was already priced in and makes little fundamental difference because no new ground has been broken,"said a Sydney bond investor. For the miner's US$4.9 billion US loan, average bids were at 85.21 per cent of par value as of Monday's close, unchanged from Friday's bids of 85.25 per cent of par value, Thomson Reuters loan data showed. The loan has climbed nearly 20 points since Jan 21 on the recent surge in iron ore, one of this year's best performing commodities. The bond is yielding around 9.204 per cent according to the data. "It makes sense to pay off debt when their biggest bond pays a hefty 9.75 per cent coupon when they sitting on a pile of cash," said a bond banker. In the first half of 2016, Fortescue reduced net debt by US$1.1 billion to US$6.1 billion. Fortescue Chief Financial Officer Stephen Pearce told Reuters last month the company could easily continue to pay down debt to meet its 40 per cent debt-to-equity target.