Rubber recovered from a four-month low as the yen slumped to its weakest level since August 2009 on expanded stimulus by the Bank of Japan, boosting the appeal of yen-denominated futures.
The contract for delivery in September climbed as much as 2.2 percent to 264.5 yen a kilogram ($2,730 a metric ton) before trading at 259.7 yen on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at 11:29 a.m. Futures closed at the lowest since Nov. 29 yesterday and have declined 5.2 percent this week, a fourth weekly decline.
The yen slid against all 16 most-traded peers this week and traded at 97.17 per dollar after BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda yesterday exceeded analysts’ estimates in announcing stimulus measures that aim to spur annual inflation to 2 percent in two years. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed above 13,000 for the first time since August 2008, led by exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp.
“The yen’s slump is the largest support to rubber,” Takaki Shigemoto, an analyst at research company JSC Corp. in Tokyo, said by phone today. “A weak yen is likely to expand overseas sales of Japanese carmakers, a positive factor for rubber demand.”
Thai rubber free-on-board dropped 1.2 percent to 82.75 baht ($2.82) a kilogram yesterday, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand. That was the lowest level since November 2009, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
Financial markets in China are closed for a national holiday. Stockpiles monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell for the first time in nine weeks by 192 tons to 117,504 tons, the bourse said April 3.
Source: Bloomberg
