Rubber headed for the biggest weekly loss in a month as a slump in Japan’s currency against the dollar stalled, weakening the appeal of yen-denominated futures.
Rubber for delivery in October dropped as much as 1.8 percent to 277.3 yen a kilogram ($2,713 a metric ton) before trading at 279.6 yen on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at 10:27 a.m. Futures have lost 4.9 percent this week, the biggest decline since the week through April 19.
The yen traded at 102.23 per dollar, recovering from the lowest level since October 2008 of 102.76 reached on May 15. Data showed yesterday U.S. jobless claims jumped by 32,000 to 360,000 last week, the most since the end of March, signaling a slowdown in the world’s biggest economy. Housing starts slumped 16.5 percent in April, the most since February 2011, the Commerce Department reported.
“The data weakened optimism about the U.S. recovery and put a break on the dollar’s advance, leading to sales of rubber futures,” Kazuhiko Saito, an analyst at broker Fujitomi Co. in Tokyo, said by phone today.
Thai rubber free-on-board dropped 0.6 percent to 89.05 baht ($2.99) a kilogram yesterday, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand. The nation, the biggest producer and exporter, is targeting a price of 110 baht a kilogram, according to Thai Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives agency.
Rubber for delivery in September on the Shanghai Futures Exchange added 0.8 percent to 20,130 yuan ($3,274) a ton.
Source: Bloomberg
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