TOKYO, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Key TOCOM rubber futures ended up 1.4 percent on Friday, bouncing back from four sessions of losses aided by a weaker yen, but concerns about big inventories in producing countries and weak prices in China capped gains.
“The market is in stalemate. There are no fresh, positive factors to push up prices further,” said Kaname Gokon, general manager at trading firm Okato Shoji Co. “With Chinese New year approaching, trading will become thinner and thinner.”
The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for June delivery settled up 4.3 yen, or 1.4 percent, at 311.6 yen. The yen’s fall temporarily boosted the benchmark contract to 313.6 yen.
The front-month January contract expired at 295.1 yen per kg. Deliveries against the January contract fell to 124 lots, or 620 tonnes, compared to 288 lots in December.
The most active Shanghai rubber contract for May delivery closed down 0.6 percent at 25,565 yuan per tonne.
The front-month February rubber contract on the SICOM in Singapore was last traded flat at 303 U.S. cents per kg.
The yen hit a 2 1/2-year low against the dollar as the market continued to focus on Japan’s pursuit of reflationary economic policies.
That boosted Japan’s benchmark Nikkei average by 2.9 percent, its 11th straight week of gains and its longest-ever weekly winning run.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s new administration has made clear it wants a weaker yen, providing investors a reason to short the currency.
Brent crude held above $113 on Friday, on track to post a second week of gains as positive economic data from the United States and China lifted the fuel demand outlook at the world’s two largest oil consumers.
(Reporting by Yuko Inoue; editing by Miral Fahmy)
Source: Reuters
