TOKYO, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Benchmark TOCOM rubber futures fell on Friday, giving up much of the previous day’s gains and putting the contract on track for a weekly loss, as investors doubted a plan by top Asian producers to cut exports for six months would solve a supply glut.
FUNDAMENTALS
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for July delivery JRUc6 0#2JRU: was down 2.3 yen, or 1.5 percent, at 155.0 yen per kg as of 0025 GMT, after jumping more than two percent the previous day. RUB/T
The contract was headed for a weekly decline of about two percent, its second consecutive weekly fall.
Asia’s top rubber producers agreed to cut exports by 615,000 tonnes for six months from March, moving to lift prices that have tumbled amid excess supply to their lowest since the global financial crisis.
Farmers and traders, however, said the cuts were too small to have a lasting impact, while similar previous efforts have given only fleeting support to prices.
Daimler AG (DAI) expects only modest growth in sales and earnings this year after big increases in 2015, held back by higher investment and slower sales growth for its Mercedes-Benz cars in China, it said on Thursday.
Economists polled by Reuters are looking for U.S.non-farm payrolls to increase by 190,000 in January, after rising by 292,000 in December.
The unemployment rate is forecast to remain at a 7-1/2-year low of 5 percent.
MARKET NEWS
The U.S. dollar stood at 116.89 yen JPY= , not far from Thursday’s two-week low of 116.525 yen as investors braced for U.S.employment figures later in the session for the latest clues on the outlook for the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening path.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock average (XC0009692440) was down 1.0 percent in Friday trade despite an overnight rise on Wall Street. MKTS/GLOB
Oil fell 2 percent in volatile trading on Thursday, as support from a weakening dollar was overshadowed by scepticism that cash-strapped OPEC member Venezuela’s effort to lobby crude producers for joint output cuts would succeed.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
The following data is expected on Friday: (Time in GMT)
0700 Germany Industrial orders Dec
0745 France Trade data Dec
1330 U.S. Nonfarm payrolls Jan
1330 U.S. Unemployment rate Jan
1330 U.S. International trade Dec
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Richard Pullin)
