Rubber dropped for the first time in three days as Japan’s currency gained against the dollar after U.S. employers added fewer jobs than estimated. A stronger yen weakens the appeal of yen-based futures.
The contract for March delivery lost as much as 0.8 percent to 266.4 yen a kilogram ($2,716 a metric ton) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange and was at 267.8 yen by 10:53 a.m. local time. The most-active contract fell 11 percent this year.
The yen rebounded to 98 per dollar after a U.S. Labor Department report showed employers added 148,000 workers in September, below the 180,000 gain projected in a Bloomberg survey. The 16-day government shutdown cut the growth and cost jobs, according to an economic aide to President Barack Obama.
“Futures in Tokyo lost support from the currency market as the U.S. data were not as good as expected,” said Gu Jiong, an analyst at broker Yutaka Shoji Co. in Tokyo.
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Losses were limited on speculation that the Federal Reserve will maintain stimulus to support a recovery, he said. The Fed unexpectedly refrained last month from tapering its bond buying, saying they wanted more evidence of an economic recovery. Deutsche Bank AG sees quantitative easing continuing in to the first quarter of 2014.
Rubber for January delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange added 0.3 percent to 20,520yuan ($3,368) a ton. Thai rubber free-on-board was unchanged at 79.55 baht ($2.57) a kilogram yesterday, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.
Source: Bloomberg
