SINGAPORE, Sept 24 (Reuters) –
- Japanese rubber futures hit a 13-year peak on Tuesday as economic stimulus unveiled by China boosted demand prospects in the world’s largest rubber consumer.
- Asian stocks hit their highest in more than two and half years, heartened by broad stimulus measures from China while expectations for more U.S. rate cuts kept risk sentiment aloft and the dollar under pressure. MKTS/GLOB
- The Osaka Exchange (OSE) rubber contract for February delivery JRUc6, 0#2JRU: ended nearly 5% higher, at 385 yen ($2.66) per kg. The market hit its highest level since August 2011 at 386.6 yuan.
- The rubber contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) for January delivery SNRv1 closed up 715yuan, or 4.09%, to 18,215 yuan ($2,588.24) per metric ton.
- The most active October butadiene rubber contract on the SHFE SHBRv1 ended up 400 yuan, or 2.59%, to 15,865 yuan per metric ton.
- “A slew of policy measures announced by the People Bank of China cheered investor sentiment and risk appetite in the broader Asian equities and commodities,” said Jom Jacob, chief analyst at Indian analysis firm What Next Rubber.
- “It is widely perceived that a faster economic recovery in China can contribute to the demand prospects for natural rubber.”
- The price of Thailand’s benchmark export-grade smoked rubber sheet (RSS3) RUB-RSS3C-BKK and block rubber RUB-STR20C-BKK were down 1.56% and 0.74%, to stand at 91.46 baht($2.77) and 67.23 baht($2.04), respectively.
- The yen eased 0.36% to 144.12 per dollar JPY=EBS after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda reiterated in a speech on Tuesday that the central bank can “afford to spend time” scrutinizing developments in markets and overseas economies before tightening policy further. USD/
- A weaker Japanese currency makes yen-denominated assets more affordable to overseas buyers. FRX/
- Oil prices rose on news of monetary stimulus from top importer China and concerns that tensions in the Middle East could hit regional supply, while a major hurricane loomed over the United States, the world’s biggest crude producer. O/R
- Natural rubber often takes direction from oil prices as it competes for market share with synthetic rubber, which is made from crude oil.
- The front-month rubber contract on Singapore Exchange’s SICOM platform for October delivery STFc1 last traded at 200.3U.S. cents per kg, up 4.5%.
($1 = 144.6100 yen)
($1 = 7.0376 yuan)
Reporting by Haridas; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Eileen Soreng
Source:
Reuters
