TOKYO, may 14 (Reuters) – Key TOCOM rubber futures rose fora third session on Wednesday, helped by higher global oil pricesand firmer U.S. shares, but remain not far off a more thanfour-year low touched last week.
FUNDAMENTALS
* The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract forOctober delivery was changing hands 0.6 yenhigher at 205.5 yen as of 0020 GMT.
* Gains were capped by concern about deterioration inChina’s economy after April data from output to investment andconsumption all missed market expectations on Tuesday, sparkingnew calls for Beijing to ease policies to shore up growth.
* Rubber is down 25 percent so far this year, dented by theweaker outlook in China, swelling global inventories and plansby Thailand to sell 200,000 tonnes from its stockpiles.
MARKET NEWS
* The Dow and the S&P 500 eked out record closing highsagain on Tuesday, while the Nasdaq resumed its recent slide
* The greenback firmed on the yen on Wednesday, pushing upto its highest in over a week at 102.37.
* U.S. crude oil rose by more than $1 a barrel to two-weekhighs on Tuesday as traders expected weekly government inventoryreports to show stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, deliverypoint plunged to new record lows last week.
* Japan’s Nikkei average was down 0.27 percent.
DATA EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Wednesday: (Time in GMT)
– 2350 Japan Corp Goods Price April
– 0900 Euro Zone Industrial Production March
– 1230 U.S. PPI Final Demand April (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Richard Pullin)
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