Rubber is poised for the best quarter since March 2012 as the U.S. and Japanese economies showed signs of improving, raising speculation demand will expand for the commodity used in tires.
The contract for March delivery on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange traded little changed at 277.9 yen a kilogram ($2,810 a metric ton) at 10:13 a.m. after gaining 0.3 percent and dropping 0.7 percent. Futures advanced 3.3 percent in September and 18 percent this quarter, paring losses to 8.1 percent for 2013.
Japan’s inflation accelerated to the fastest pace since 2008 in August, signaling Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is making progress toward his goal of lifting the world’s third-largest economy from 15 years of deflation. First-time claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. dropped by 5,000 to 305,000 last week, Labor Department data showed, compared with the 325,000 median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
“Expectations for global economic recovery provided support to rubber futures,” said Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at broker Fujitomi Co. in Tokyo.
Gains in futures were limited as a drop in oil raised speculation the price of competing synthetic rubber may decline, Saito said. West Texas Intermediate was poised for a third weekly loss as the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council agreed to a resolution on Syria.
Rubber for January delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was little changed at 20,600yuan ($3,366) a ton. Chinese markets will be closed Oct. 1-7.
Thai rubber free-on-board dropped 0.9 percent to 81.55 baht ($2.62) a kilogram yesterday, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.
Source: Bloomberg
