TOKYO, May 19 (Reuters) – Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures ended down 4 percent at a two-and-a-half month low on Thursday, in line with weak Shanghai futures and low oil prices. Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures, which set the tone for tyre rubber prices in Southeast Asia, fell 6 percent over the past two sessions, and are likely to come under further selling pressure, market sources said.
Most Chinese commodities futures fell on Thursday, amid cautious sentiment caused by a supply glut for some industrial metals and a possible U.S.interest rate hike.
Oil prices fell on Thursday, pulled down by rising U.S.crude inventories, a stronger dollar and surging output from Iran to Europe and Asia.
O/R “There’s a growing sense of oversupply for industrial commodities in China and elsewhere,” a source with a Tokyo-based dealer said, adding that the rubber market is likely to face further downward pressure in the coming days. The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for October delivery JRUc6 0#2JRU: finished 6.7 yen lower at 161.8 yen ($1.47) per kg. It earlier touched 161.7 yen, the lowest since March 3. The U.S. dollar was quoted near a three-week high of 110.20 yen JPY= , compared with 109.52 yen on Wednesday afternoon, helped by renewed expectations for a June interest rate hike by the U.S.Federal Reserve.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for September delivery SNRcv1 fell 420 yuan to finish at 10,845 yuan ($1,658) per tonne. The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for June delivery STFc1 last traded at 131.5 U.S. cents per kg, down 3.8 cents.
($1 = 110.1600 yen)
($1 = 6.5418 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)
