TOKYO, July 12 (Reuters) – Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures fell 2.7 percent on Friday ahead of a three-day weekend as a firm yen and a lack of strong fundamentals encouraged profit-taking, following the previous day’s more than 4 percent gains, traders said.
The benchmark rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) for December delivery fell 6.7 yen to settle at 238.4 yen ($2.41) per kg. For the week, it fell 2.7 percent.
The yen stood at 99.02 yen, from Wednesday’s high of 101.21 yen, after dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke forced traders to trim their long positions on the greenback.
Tokyo markets are closed on Monday due to a national holiday.
“Profit-taking took place after yesterday’s big gains ahead of a three-day weekend,” a Tokyo-based broker said. “Adding to the pressure was the Shanghai markets that turned weaker in the afternoon.”
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery fell 175 yuan to finish at 17,485 yuan ($2,800) per tonne.
After TOCOM and Shanghai markets closed, data showed that rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.1 percent from last Friday.
Natural rubber imports into India fell 4.97 percent on year to 19,695 tonnes in June, while production also fell 12.9 percent to 54,000 tonnes in the same period, the Rubber Board said on Thursday.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for August delivery last traded at 219.50 U.S. cents per kg, down 1.8 cents.
($1 = 98.7400 Japanese yen)
($1 = 6.1352 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Anand Basu)
Source: Reuters
