TOKYO (April 7): Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures tumbled more than 4% on Friday, leading to a third straight weekly loss, as a plunge in Shanghai futures to 5-month lows prompted a flurry of selling.
“Shanghai has been setting the tone for rubber prices in Asia,” said Masayo Kondo, president of Commodity Intelligence, a Japanese commodities market research company.
“Chinese speculators have left and tyre demand has been soft in Japan. There is no supporting factor to the TOCOM rubber,” he said, predicting the bearish tone to continue into next week.
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) rubber contract for September delivery finished 10.8 yen, or 4.3%, lower at 237.9 yen (US$2.15) per kg. For the week, it booked a 2.9% loss.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for September delivery plunged 1,185 yuan to finish at 15,675 yuan (US$2,272) per tonne, hitting the lowest since Nov 8.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for May delivery last traded at 173.7 US cents per kg, down 7.5 US cent.
(US$1 = 110.5900 yen)
(US$1 = 6.8985 Chinese yuan)
