TOKYO (Oct 24): Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures erased early falls and closed 1.1% higher on Tuesday as the Japanese yen stood close to a three-month low hit a day earlier, brokers said.
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for March delivery finished 2.1 yen higher at 198.3 yen (US$1.75) per kg after touching 199.2 yen earlier, the highest since last Thursday.
The US dollar stood at 113.64 yen, not far from a three-month high of 114.10 yen hit in the wake of Sunday’s general election in Japan.
A weaker yen makes commodities denominated in the Japanese currency cheaper for holders of other currencies.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery fell 95 yuan to finish at 13,425 yuan (US$2,024) per tonne.
China’s natural rubber imports rose 20.9% last month to 228,161 tonnes from a year earlier, government data showed on Tuesday, confirming robust demand for raw material by the world’s top consumer so far this year.
The number of rubber tyre exported fell 4.7% last month to 35.85 million units, Chinese data also showed.
China’s top steelmaking city, Tangshan, has ordered more industrial plants, including rubber, plastics and paint producers, to make deep cuts in production, the China Securities Journal reported on Monday, citing a government notice.
The curbs will last for four months, until March 2018, but the city is asking industrial plants to make temporary, steeper cuts in production over the next three days, when smog is expected to worsen.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for November delivery last traded at 143.20 US cents per kg, up 0.5 cents.
(US$1 = 113.5600 yen)
(US$1 = 6.6335 Chinese yuan)
