Rubber fell for a second day as Japan’s currency strengthened on speculation the Federal Reserve will maintain bond purchases, cutting the appeal of yen-denominated contracts.
The most-active contract lost as much as 2.2 percent to 250.2 yen a kilogram ($2,529 a metric ton) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange and traded at 252.1 yen at 1:06 p.m. local time. The price has gained 0.2 percent this week, bringing this year’s loss to 17 percent. Rubber for delivery in January, which started trading today, was quoted at 252.6 yen.
The yen strengthened for a second day against the dollar on speculation the Federal Reserve will reassure investors that policy will remain accommodative at next week’s meeting, and ahead of reports next week predicted to show economic expansion in the second quarter and jobs growth in July slowed.
“A strong yen cuts the appeal of rubber contracts,” said Gu Jiong, an analyst at commodity broker Yutaka Shoji Co. “Investors also reduced positions ahead of a FOMC meeting and reports next week on U.S. economic data.”
The Federal Open Market Committee, which will meet July 30-31, won’t announce a decision to reduce its monthly bond purchases at that meeting, according to 54 economists surveyed byBloomberg News from July 18-22. Half of those polled said Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will trim bond buying to $65 billion from the current pace of $85 billion in September.
A July 31 report may show U.S. annualized gross domestic product grew 1 percent in the April-to-June period, slowing from the previous three-month period, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg poll. Employers added 184,000 jobs this month, after 195,000 additional positions were created in June, a separate poll forecast before the Aug. 2 data release.
Rubber for January delivery fell 1.4 percent to 18,305 yuan ($2,985) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. Thai rubber free-on-board added 0.3 percent to 79.30 baht ($2.55) a kilogram yesterday, according to Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.
Source: Bloomberg
