TOKYO (Aug 6): Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures ended up 0.8 percent on Thursday as the yen’s fall to a two-month low against the U.S. dollar led investors to unwind some short positions despite oil prices trading near multi-month lows.
Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures, which set the tone for tyre rubber prices in Southeast Asia, however, are seen in a downward trend due to worries over Chinese demand, despite a temporary uptick thanks to a lower yen, a Tokyo-based broker said.
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for January delivery <0#2JRU:> finished 1.6 yen higher at 197.2 yen per kg.
The dollar was quoted at around 124.90 yen after briefly popping above 125.000 on Wednesday for the first time since early June.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery fell 105 yuan to finish at 12,080 yuan per tonne.
India’s natural rubber imports in July dropped nearly 15 percent from a year earlier to 36,828 tonnes, a government official, who declined to be named, told Reuters on Thursday.
The South Asian country imports natural rubber from Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. In July, tyre makers trimmed imports expecting a further fall in rubber prices, said a Kochi-based dealer.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for September delivery last traded at 136 U.S. cents per kg, down 1.5 cent.
