TOKYO (Dec 11): Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures ended down 0.5% on Monday, erasing early gains in line with Shanghai futures amid concerns about slowing growth in consumption by top consumer China, brokers said.
Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures, which set the tone for tyre rubber prices in Southeast Asia, have fallen from a more than two-month high hit last Tuesday. The market received little support from the Thailand government’s plan to increase rubber purchases to help boost prices.
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for May delivery finished 1.1 yen lower at 203 yen (US$1.79) per kg after touching 205.8 yen, the highest since Dec 7, earlier in the session.
Crude rubber inventories at Japanese ports stood at 8,492 tonnes as of Nov 20, up 19.2% from the last inventory date, data from the Rubber Trade Association of Japan showed late on Friday.
China’s vehicle sales in November rose 0.7% from a year earlier to 2.96 million vehicles, marking a sixth consecutive month of gains, an industry association said on Monday.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for May delivery finished unchanged at 14,020 yuan per tonne.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for January delivery last traded at 141.70 US cents per kg, down 1.1 cents.
(US$1 = 113.5400 yen)
