Rubber rallied the most in three weeks as a smaller-than-expected surplus for Japan weakened the nation’s currency, increasing the appeal of contracts in yen, and ahead of Chinese trade data.
Rubber for delivery in January on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange gained as much as 4.2 percent, the biggest advance for a most-active contract since July 19. Futures were 3.6 percent higher at 255.2 yen a kilogram ($2,639 a metric ton) at 11:58 a.m. local time. That pared this year’s decline to 16 percent.
The yen retreated from a seven-week high versus the dollar after Japan reported the current-account surplus was 336.3 billion yen ($3.5 billion) in June, compared to the median estimate for 400 billion yen.
“The weaker yen spurred buying in Japanese stocks and rubber,” said Naohiro Niimura, a partner at research company Market Risk Advisory Co. in Tokyo.
Chinese exports probably rose 2 percent in July, after falling the prior month, according to a Bloomberg survey before today’s report.
Rubber for delivery in January rose 3 percent to 18,835 yuan ($3,078) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
Thai rubber free-on-board gained 1.3 percent to 77.75 baht ($2.48) a kilogram yesterday, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.
Source: Bloomberg
