Rubber declined, paring a weekly advance, as a drop in oil reduced the appeal of the commodity as an alternative to synthetic products used in tires.
The contract for February delivery on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange lost as much as 1.3 percent to 281.5 yen a kilogram ($2,829 a metric ton) and traded at 282.5 yen at 10:36 a.m. local time. The drop pared gains to 3.9 percent for the most-active contract this week.
West Texas Intermediate headed for a second weekly loss as Libya’s oil output increased and as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he will provide inspectors access to chemical-weapons facilities. Iranian President Hassan Rohani said in an interview with a U.S. television network that his country would never seek nuclear weapons and he had full authority to resolve issues surrounding the nation’s nuclear program.
“Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are easing, putting a drag on the energy market,” saidKazuhiko Saito, an analyst at broker Fujitomi Co. in Tokyo. “Rubber tracked losses in oil futures.”
Thai rubber free-on-board gained 0.6 percent to 83.20 baht ($2.67) a kilogram yesterday, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand. Farmers unhappy with low rubber prices continued blocking a road in the southern Thai province of Nakhon Sri Thammarat in a protest against the government, according to Viroj Jivarungsan, the province’s governor.
The Shanghai Futures Exchange is closed today for holiday.
Source: Bloomberg
