TOKYO, April 9 (Reuters) – Benchmark Tokyo rubber futuresdropped nearly 2 percent on Wednesday, giving up some of theprevious day’s gain on concerns about economic growth in topconsumer China and weaker Tokyo equities market, dealers said.
The benchmark rubber contract on the Tokyo CommodityExchange (TOCOM) for September delivery fell 4.1 yen, or1.8 percent, to settle at 221.3 yen ($2.17) per kg.
The contract, which closed up 1.9 percent on Tuesday, roseas much as 226.8 yen to a one-week high earlier in the session,but it surrendered its gain as Nikkei share prices tumbled.
Japanese stocks stumbled 2.1 percent to a three-week low onWednesday after the Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kurodaraised doubts over whether the central bank will ease its policystance anytime soon, sending the yen higher.
TOCOM Rubber Futures Prices on Wednesday, April 09, 2014 (yen/kilogram)
|
Month |
Last Settlement Price |
Open |
High |
Low |
Close |
Change |
Volume |
Settlement |
|
Apr 2014 |
245.5 |
242.9 |
244.3 |
238.0 |
238.0 |
-7.5 |
115 |
238.0 |
|
May 2014 |
245.9 |
244.0 |
244.7 |
237.6 |
238.2 |
-7.5 |
202 |
238.4 |
|
Jun 2014 |
234.0 |
233.7 |
235.1 |
228.5 |
228.9 |
-5.2 |
337 |
228.8 |
|
Jul 2014 |
227.1 |
226.5 |
228.5 |
222.8 |
222.8 |
-4.2 |
420 |
222.9 |
|
Aug 2014 |
226.0 |
224.5 |
227.3 |
221.7 |
222.4 |
-3.9 |
1,013 |
222.1 |
|
Sep 2014 |
225.4 |
223.6 |
226.8 |
220.6 |
221.4 |
-4.1 |
5,762 |
221.3 |
|
Total |
|
7,849 |
||||||
“Investors’ concern about slowing Chinese economy was behindthe selling pressure,” Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at FujitomiCo, said.
“If China’s trade figure shows another sign of weakness, therubber prices may head further down,” Tazawa said.
China’s trade data will be released on April 10.
China is forecast to have grown at its slowest rate in fiveyears in the first quarter, a Reuters poll shows, with the slowstart to 2014 already prompting government action to steady theworld’s second-largest economy.
Crude rubber inventories at Japanese ports stood at 22,059tonnes as of March 31, down 1.71 percent from 10 days earlier,data from the Rubber Trade Association of Japan showed onWednesday, marking the first decline since last October.
Still, the inventory level remains relatively high, a dealersaid.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futuresexchange for September delivery lost 390 yuan to finishat 15,325 yuan ($2,500) per tonne.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOMexchange for May delivery last traded at 181.00 U.S.cents per kg, down 2.5 cents. ($1 = 102.1100 Japanese Yen) ($1 = 6.1968 Chinese Yuan) (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Anand Basu)
Reuters
