TOKYO, May 27 (Reuters) – Benchmark Tokyo rubber futuresended 1.1 percent lower from its open on Tuesday, hurt by aslight recovery in the yen against the dollar and the euro inlate afternoon, brokers said.
The benchmark rubber contract on the Tokyo CommodityExchange (TOCOM) for new November delivery settled at206.1 yen ($2.02) per kg, down from the opening price of 208.4.
“Past 3 p.m. (0600 GMT), the euro/yen dived for someoptions-related trades, dragging the rubber market lower withit,” said a Tokyo-based broker who declined to be identified.
The euro traded slightly down at 130.09 against the yen. Thedollar edged down to 101.86 yen, but was still near a 1-1/2 weekhigh of 102.05 set on Monday.
Japan’s Nikkei share average rose on Tuesday, extendinggains into a fourth day as recent upbeat Chinese and U.S. datacontinued to lift investors’ risk appetites.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futuresexchange for September delivery fell 170 yuan to finishat 14,530 yuan ($2,300) per tonne.
Ivory Coast exported 133,927 tonnes of rubber from Januaryto April, up more than 33 percent from the previous year,provisional port data showed on Monday.
Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa grower, is also Africa’sleading producer of natural rubber.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOMexchange for June delivery last traded at 170.00 U.S.cents per kg, down 0.8 cent.
($1 = 101.8750 Japanese yen)
($1 = 6.2392 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Sunil Nair)
– Reuters
