Rubber declined to the lowest level in more than a week as Japan’s currency advanced, cutting the appeal of the yen-denominated futures, and reports showed a slower pace of growth in U.S. manufacturing and payrolls.
The contract for October delivery lost as much as 3.4 percent to 250.8 yen a kilogram ($2,578 a metric ton), the lowest most-active price since April 24. Futures traded at 253.7 yen on theTokyo Commodity Exchange at 10:54 a.m., extending this year’s losses to 16 percent.
The yen climbed to 97.09 per dollar toward a two-week high, after the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index yesterday showed manufacturing in the U.S. expanded in April at the slowest pace in four months. U.S. companies added 119,000 jobs last month, the least since September, according to figures from ADP Research Institute.
“Data from the U.S. raised demand concerns,” Takaki Shigemoto, an analyst at research company JSC Corp. in Tokyo, said by phone.
U.S. light-vehicle sales climbed 8.5 percent to 1.29 million in April, according to researcher Autodata Corp, trailing the average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg for an 11 percent increase to 1.31 million.
Rubber for September delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange lost 1.8 percent to 18,745yuan ($3,045) a ton.
Thai rubber free-on-board gained for a seventh session on April 30, rising 1.5 percent to 85.80 baht ($2.92) a kilogram, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.
Source: Bloomberg
