Asian rubber settled lower Tuesday due to lingering concerns over the U.S. fiscal cliff. Overall trade was slow due to a public holiday in parts of Asia.
Benchmark April natural rubber futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange settled 1.6 yen lower at Y242.7 a kilogram.
The contract will likely move in the Y240-Y250/kg range Wednesday amid a lack of strong leads, said a trader in Bangkok.
Trade participants will also be looking for cues from developments at China’s Communist Party Congress Wednesday.
International Rubber Consortium chief secretary Yium Tavarolit said in his weekly newsletter that an evaluation of the collective export cut by Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia has found it to be satisfactory, as rubber prices have come off lows. The cut “will help improve natural rubber prices gradually till the end of March 2013 as planned,” he wrote.
April Tocom rubber recouped most of the day’s losses, rising Y1.2 to Y243.9/kg, in the night session, which is considered part of the next trading day.
Benchmark May natural rubber on the Shanghai Futures Exchange settled slightly lower.
China’s tire production rose 1.2% on year to 77.67 million units in October, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday. In the first 10 months of the year, tire output totaled 729.32 million units, up 3.6% on year, it said.
The spot trade was slow due to a public holiday in various parts of Asia, including the trading center of Singapore.
Source: IRCo
