TOKYO, May 16 (Reuters) – Benchmark Tokyo rubber futuresrose 0.9 percent this week, closing at the psychological levelof 200 yen, but sentiment was weak, reflecting a stronger yenand amid an outlook of more supplies, dealers said on Friday.
On Friday, the benchmark rubber contract on the TokyoCommodity Exchange (TOCOM) for October delivery fell 2.4percent, or 5 yen, to settle at 200 yen ($1.97) per kg. Thecontract earlier fell to 199.2 yen, the lowest since May 12.
Dealers expected more supply in the market soon because ofthe end of wintering season in the region, which will furtherpressure prices.
Trading houses snapped up Thai and Indonesian rubber fornearby shipment this week, but main consumer China remained onthe sidelines, looking for cheaper prices as the dry winteringseason was about to end.
The dollar eased 0.1 percent to 101.46 yen, stayingclose to a two-month low of 101.31 yen set on Thursday.
“Supplies at producing nations have increased a little, butmore are to come later,” said Kaname Gokon, general manager ofresearch at broker Okato Shoji.
“The fall in dollar/yen is probably having the biggestimpact, and TOCOM rubber could be trading below 200 yen nextweek, which could accelerate further selling.”
Thailand’s announcement to sell 200,000 tonnes of rubberfrom government stocks hurt TOCOM prices, which posted theirbiggest weekly fall in five weeks last week, but dealers saidthe impact was not likely to be as big as feared earlier.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futuresexchange for September delivery fell 370 yuan to finishat 13,820 yuan ($2,200) per tonne, after falling more than 3percent amid concerns about a slowing Chinese economy.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOMexchange for June delivery was untraded yet. Thecontract for July delivery traded at 169.00 U.S. cents per kg,down 1.0 cent.($1 = 101.5750 Japanese Yen)($1 = 6.2306 Chinese Yuan) (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)
– Reuters
