Tokyo and Shanghai rubber futures stayed in an upward trend during the week, supported by firm global stock markets, a weak Japanese yen against the greenback, high crude oil futures, and investor confidence even though the rubber market was subdued as Tokyo rubber futures were closed on Monday and Shanghai rubber futures were closed on Thursday and Friday.
The unexpected postponement of tapering on monetary stimulus by the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday shored up global investor confidence and spurred natural rubber (NR) prices in Asia to go higher on Thursday before market players on Tokyo rubber futures took profits on Friday that forced physical rubber markets in region to follow suit.
A move of rubber markets in the region is likely to remain in an upward trend further in the coming week if the above supportive factors still stay unchanged, and incoming manufacturing data in China continue improving. In addition, NR supply in Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia has not increased as much as expected because there is not much rain as usual in rubber planted areas of the three countries.
Source: IRCo
