Benchmark TOCOM rubber futures dipped early on Thursday (Jun 12), falling for the first time in five sessions, as weaker Japanese equities and a firmer yen offset gains in oil prices to weigh on buying sentiment for the soft commodity.
FUNDAMENTALS
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for November delivery was down 0.5 yen at 199.4 yen per kg by 0034 GMT, after finishing 3.6 yen higher on Wednesday (Jun 11).
Japan’s core machinery orders fell 9.1 percent in April, government data showed on Thursday, compared with the median estimate of an 11.9 percent drop in a Reuters poll of economists.
China’s central bank said on Wednesday (Jun 11) it will keep monetary policy steady in 2014, even as the finance ministry said fiscal spending had surged nearly 25 percent in May from a year earlier, highlighting government efforts to energise the slowing economy.
A delegation of Thai military commanders travelled to China on Wednesday (Jun 11) for talks on regional security and joint training amid Western reproach of the army’s seizure of power in a coup last month.
MARKET NEWS
The U.S. dollar was quoted around 102.02 yen early on Thursday (Jun 12), steady after falling on Wednesday (Jun 11) on little sign of further easing from the Bank of Japan.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock average fell 0.8 percent in Thursday (Jun 12) trade, after Wall Street fell on Wednesday (Jun 11) following the World Bank’s reduction of its global growth forecast.
Brent oil futures climbed toward $110 a barrel on Wednesday (Jun 11) as violence in Iraq prompted worries about the supply outlook, while U.S. crude struggled to make gains near key levels of resistance.
– Reuters, June 12, 2014
