Rubber declined for a third day as Japan’s currency traded near a one-week high against the dollar, weakening the appeal of yen-based futures, amid speculation the Federal Reserve will delay tapering stimulus.
The contract for March delivery dropped as much as 1.7 percent, the most since Oct. 10, to 264.3 yen a kilogram ($2,696 a metric ton) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange. Futures traded at 267.2 yen at 12:15 p.m., paring gains for the most-active contract to 1 percent this week.
The yen advanced to 97.85 per dollar, nearing a one-week high reached yesterday. Speculation grew that the Fed will postpone tapering its bond-buying program to support recovery amid political conflicts. President Barack Obama signed into law a measure ending a U.S. government shutdown and extending its borrowing authority until early 2014.
“Rubber lost support from the currency market as the yen was bought back amid expectations that the U.S. will maintain monetary stimulus for the rest of the year,” said Kazuhiko Saito, an analyst at broker Fujitomi Co. in Tokyo.
Losses in futures were limited as data showed today China’s economy grew 7.8 percent in the third quarter of 2013 from a year earlier, boosting outlook for demand from the world’s largest consumer of the commodity used in tires.
The growth accelerated from a 7.5 percent advance in the second quarter, and matched the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 48 analysts.
Rubber for January delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange added 0.3 percent to 20,475yuan ($3,360) a ton. Thai rubber free-on-board was unchanged at 81.05 baht ($2.61) a kilogram yesterday, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.
Source: Bloomberg
