Benchmark TOCOM rubber futures are on course for their deepest weekly fall in a month as the contract inched down on Friday (Aug 15), with declines in other industrial commodities like copper and crude oil weighing on sentiment.
FUNDAMENTALS
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for January delivery fell 0.4 yen to 197.0 yen per kg by 0018 GMT, putting the contract on course for a 3.8 percent weekly fall, its deepest since dropping 5 percent in the week to July 11.
The benchmark TOCOM rubber contract finished 0.7 percent lower on Thursday (Aug 14).
China’s surprisingly sharp and sudden drop in credit has strengthened the case for the central bank to cut interest rates, but policy insiders believe it will be reluctant to take more aggressive steps and for now will stick to more targeted measures.
Germany’s economy shrank in the second quarter and France again failed to conjure up any growth, snuffing out any signs of a recovery in the euro zone which is now also weighed down by tit-for-tat sanctions with Russia.
MARKET NEWS
The U.S. dollar was quoted around 102.51 yen early on Friday (Aug 15), just under a one-week high hit on Thursday (Aug 14) when the greenback got help from gains on Wall Street and easing tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock average . dipped 0.1 percent in early Friday (Aug 15) trade, falling for the first time in five days.
Copper fell to its lowest since late June on Thursday (Aug 14) on concerns about demand for the industrial metal after data showing euro zone economic growth ground to a halt in the second quarter and the Chinese property sector cooled.
Crude oil prices fell more than $2 a barrel on both sides of the Atlantic on Thursday (Aug 14) , sunk by weak economic data hinting at softening oil demand and by ample supplies.
(Reuters, August 15, 2014)
