TOCOM falls as Saudi diplomatic isolation hits Asian shares

TOKYO: Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures fell on Tuesday as negative factors from Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic isolation to worries about Italy’s finances pressured Asian shares and commodities.

Japanese stocks fell on Tuesday, with the broad Topix index retreating to a seven-month low as subdued corporate earnings and a pullback in global equities weighed on investor sentiment.

China’s main stock indexes resumed a downward spiral Tuesday, a day after the blue-chip index posted its biggest gains in nearly three years, as investors remained pessimistic about economic prospects and risks posed by shares pledged for loans.

The Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) rubber contract for March delivery  finished 2.2 yen, or 1.3 percent lower at 167.1 yen ($1.49) per kg.

TOCOM’s new technically specified rubber (TSR) 20 futures contract for April delivery fell 0.9 percent to close at 150.7 yen per kg.

The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery fell 160 yuan to finish at 11,935 yuan  ($1,721)per tonne.

“Worries that oil money is escaping from risk assets in light of Saudi Arabia’s problem were also behind the selling pressure,” said Satoru Yoshida, a commodity analyst with Rakuten Securities.

“Those concerns weighed on many commodities as well as equities in Asia,” he added.

Markets were also waiting for Turkey’s president to reveal his country’s take on the killing of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul this month.

The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for November delivery last traded at 132.1 U.S. cents per kg, down 0.6 cent.

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