Rubber climbed to a one-week high as a better-than-estimated jump in U.S. jobs boosted the dollar against Japan’s currency, raising the appeal of contracts in yen.
The contract for delivery in August advanced as much as 1.4 percent to 293 yen a kilogram ($3,116 a metric ton) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, the highest level since Feb. 28. The most- active contract traded at 292.1 yen at 11:10 a.m., paring this year’s loss to 3.4 percent.
The yen traded at 93.96 per dollar after dropping to 94.12, nearing an almost three-year low of 94.77 reached on Feb. 25. American companies added 198,000 workers in February, according to a private report based on payrolls. The increase in employment followed a revised 215,000 gain in January, figures from the ADP Research Institute showed yesterday.
“Optimism about the U.S. recovery reduced investor demand for the yen as a haven, weakening the currency and boosting futures in Tokyo,” Kazuhiko Saito, an analyst at broker Fujitomi Co. in Tokyo, said by phone today.
The contract for September delivery in Shanghai fell 0.2 percent to 24,075 yuan ($3,869) a ton. Thai rubber free-on-board rose 0.6 percent to 89.25 baht ($3) a kilogram yesterday, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.
Imports by members of the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries, or ANRPC, may total 1.05 million tons in the first quarter, compared with 1.06 million a year earlier, the group said yesterday. Imports by China, the largest consumer, jumped 17.6 percent in the first two months, it said.
Source: Bloomberg
