Rubber rebounded from a two-week low as the Japanese currency weakened against the dollar amid speculation the Federal Reserve may taper stimulus, increasing the appeal of the yen-denominated futures.
The contract for February delivery on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange gained as much as 1.3 percent to 275.6 yen a kilogram ($2,776 a metric ton) and was at 274.7 yen at 11:06 a.m. Earlier, the most-active contract slid to 268.4 yen, the lowest since Sept. 2. Prices lost 3.8 percent last week.
The yen depreciated to 99.28 per dollar after reaching the strongest level in two weeks yesterday. The Federal Open Market Committee will slow its monthly asset purchases to $75 billion from $85 billion at a two-day meeting that starts today, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists.
“The focus is on whether the Fed will decide to curtail its stimulus and how the currency marketwill react to a decision,” said Takaki Shigemoto, an analyst at research company JSC Corp. in Tokyo.
The contract for January delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange added 0.9 percent to 20,280 yuan ($3,313) a ton. Thai rubber free-on-board lost 0.9 percent to 82.7 baht ($2.60) a kilogram yesterday, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.
Source: Bloomberg
