TOKYO, June 23 (Reuters) – Key TOCOM rubber futures extendedgains on Monday, hitting a two-month high helped by firm oilprices as the fighting in Iraq shows no letup with Sunniinsurgents moving towards Baghdad from new strongholds along theSyrian border.
FUNDAMENTALS
* The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract forNovember delivery was changing hands 2.6 yenhigher at 215.3 yen as of 0020 GMT. The benchmark contract roseas high as 215.8 yen, the highest since April 17.
* Rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the ShanghaiFutures Exchange rose 0.4 percent from last Friday, the exchangesaid on Friday.
MARKET NEWS
* U.S. stocks rose on Friday, driving the Dow and the S&P500 to close at record highs as the shares of 330 companies hit52-week highs on the New York Stock Exchange.
* Against the yen, the dollar was little changed at 102.10.
* U.S. crude and Brent oil were trading near nine-monthhighs early on Monday, extending last week’s gains.
* Japan’s Nikkei share average was up 0.31 percent.
DATA EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Monday: (Time in GMT)
-0145 China HSBC Manufacturing Flash PMI June
-0700 France Markit Manufacturing Flash PMI June
-0730 Germany Markit Manufacturing Flash PMI June
-0800 Euro zone Markit Manufacturing Flash PMI June
-1230 U.S. National activity index May
-1300 U.S. Markit Manufacturing Flash PMI June
-1400 U.S. Existing home sales May (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Michael Perry)
– Reuters
