TOKYO, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Benchmark TOCOM rubber futures jumped on Tuesday as an overnight surge in Shanghai futures prompted a flurry of buying at the opening.
FUNDAMENTALS
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for June delivery JRUc6 0#2JRU: was up 5.6 yen, or 2.1 percent, at 273.1 yen ($2.36) per kg as of 0106 GMT.Japanese markets were closed on Monday for a national holiday.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for May delivery SNRcv1 soared 565 yuan to 18,995 yuan ($2,739.01) per tonne in overnight trade.
A raft of data from China in coming weeks is expected to show the world’s second-largest economy carried solid momentum into 2017, thanks to heavy government stimulus and a construction boom that breathed new life into its ailing smokestack industries.
Rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 2.7 percent from the prior Friday, the exchange said on Friday.
Global automakers reported a surge in China sales last year as consumers rushed to take advantage of a tax cut on small-engine cars, but cautioned 2017 would be tougher for the industry as the incentive is rolled back and the broader economy slows.
Toyota Motor Corp (TOYOF) will invest $10 billion in the United States over the next five years, the same as in the previous five years, North America Chief Executive Jim Lentz said on Monday, to meet demand and upgrade plants to build more fuel-efficient models.
MARKET NEWS
Oil prices tumbled by 4 percent on Monday on concern that record Iraqi crude exports and rising U.S.output would undermine OPEC’s efforts to curb global oversupply.
The U.S. dollar fell 0.2 percent to 115.90 yen JPY= , well below its overnight high of 117.53, though off an earlier session low of 115.65 yen as Tokyo traders returned to their desks after markets here were closed for a public holiday on Monday.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock average (XC0009692440) slid 0.3 percent on Tuesday after weaker oil prices weighed on energy stocks on Wall Street the previous day.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
The following data is expected on Tuesday: (Time in GMT)
China Producer Prices Dec China Consumer Prices Dec
0745 France Industrial Output Nov
1100 US NFIB Small Business Confidence Index Dec
1500 US JOLTS Job Openings Nov
($1 = 115.9300 yen)
($1 = 6.9350 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Randy Fabi)
