Rubber is headed for the best weekly advance since May as Japan’s currency declined against the dollar, raising the appeal of yen-denominated contracts, amid expectations the U.S. recovery may be gathering pace.
Rubber for delivery in December climbed as much as 0.6 percent to 248.4 yen a kilogram ($2,475 a metric ton) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange and was at 247.4 yen at 10:06 a.m. Futures have gained 4.7 percent this week, the best performance since the week through May 10.
The yen weakened to 100.36 per dollar, nearing a one-month low reached on July 3, before data that will probably show U.S. employers added almost as many workers last month as in May and the jobless rate probably fell.
“Improvement in U.S. jobs market will lead to better raw-material demand from the country,” said Naohiro Niimura, a partner at research company Market Risk Advisory Co. in Tokyo.
The U.S. unemployment rate probably fell to 7.5 percent in June, matching April’s four-year low and down from 7.6 percent in May, according to the median estimate of 82 economists surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of a Labor Department report due today. Payrolls grew by 165,000 workers, after rising 175,000 in May, the median of 70 projections shows.
Rubber for January delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange added 0.2 percent to 18,265yuan ($2,982) a ton. Thai rubber free-on-board fell 1.2 percent to 82.65 baht ($2.66) a kilogram yesterday, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.
Source: Bloomberg
