TOKYO, Aug 3 (Reuters) – Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures dipped to a three-week low on Wednesday as a higher yen, slumping Tokyo stock market and weaker oil prices dampened market sentiment and prompted fresh selling. The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for January delivery JRUc6 0#2JRU: finished 1.1 yen, or 0.7 percent, higher at 153.0 yen ($1.51) per kg, after giving up an earlier gain and hitting a low of 152.8 yen, the lowest since July 12. “The stronger yen and tumbling Nikkei share index sparked selling,” said Toshitaka Tazawa, analyst at Fujitomi Co, adding lower oil prices also added to pressure.
The dollar was up 0.2 percent at 101.08 yen JPY= , but it slid to a three-week trough of 100.680 the previous day, amid some disappointment that a meeting between Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda did not result in steps to weaken the yen. FRX/ The Nikkei share average (XC0009692440) fell to a three-week low on Wednesday on the yen’s gains. .T Oil prices remained weak on Wednesday, with U.S.crude below $40 per barrel and Brent under $42, as fuel oversupply and stuttering economic growth weighed on markets, although prices did receive some support from a weaker dollar.
“The TOCOM may test a 150 yen level soon although it will likely be supported at the July’s bottom of 145.9 yen,” Tazawa said. The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery SNRcv1 rose 60 yuan to finish at 12,665 yuan ($1,910.34) per tonne. The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for September delivery STFc1 last traded at 129.9 U.S. cents per kg, up 0.3 cent.
($1 = 101.2300 yen)
($1 = 6.6297 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi, editing by David Evans)
