Rubber dropped from a three-month high as Japan’s currency appreciated, cutting the appeal of yen-based futures that entered a bull market yesterday.
Rubber for delivery in January on Tokyo Commodity Exchange fell as much as 0.7 percent to 275 yen a kilogram ($2,800 a metric ton) and traded at 275.6 yen at 10:43 a.m. The drop pared gains for the most-active contract to 15 percent this month, the most since December.
The yen climbed to 98.05 per dollar, rebounding from a three-week low reached Aug. 23, after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said President Barack Obama will hold Syria accountable for using chemical weapons against its people. The yen also gained after a report yesterday showed U.S. durable goods orders fell in July for the first time since March.
“The yen was bought as a haven amid rising tensions in the Middle East, leading to sales of futures in Tokyo,” said Hideshi Matsunaga, an analyst at broker ACE Koeki Co.
Bookings for goods meant to last at least three years decreased 7.3 percent last month in the U.S., the most since August 2012, after a 3.9 percent gain in June, the Commerce Department said yesterday. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 4 percent drop.
Rubber for delivery in January lost 0.8 percent to 20,530 yuan ($3,353) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. Thai rubber free-on-board added 1.2 percent to 83.95 baht ($2.62) a kilogram yesterday, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.
Source: Bloomberg
