TOKYO: Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures fell for a third straight session and ended near a three-month low on Monday as weak Chinese data hit investor sentiment, dealers said.
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for February delivery was down 1.9 yen, or 1 percent, to settle at 196.4 yen ($1.8861 dollar) per kg, the lowest close since June 10. It fell as low as 195.2 yen, the lowest intraday level since Aug. 18, earlier in the session.
“Weak China PMI data and a slide at the Shanghai market pushed Tokyo rubber prices down,” said Jiong Gu, an analyst with Yutaka Shoji Co.
Growth in the vast factory sector in China, the world’s biggest rubber consumer, cooled in August as foreign and domestic demand slowed, two surveys showed on Monday, spurring new calls for more policy easing to prevent the economy from stumbling once more.
A purchasing managers’ index (PMI) published by the National Bureau of Statistics fell from a 27-month high to 51.1 in August, while the final HSBC/Markit PMI eased to 50.2 in August, close to the preliminary reading of 50.3 and only a shade above the 50-point mark demarcating an expansion in activity from a contraction.
“We may see some more selling, but further drop may be limited as TOCOM prices have been following physical rubber prices in Thailand more closely than Shanghai futures prices lately,” Gu said.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery fell 220 yuan to finish at 14,315 yuan (2,330 US dollar) per tonne.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for September delivery was last traded at 161.2 U.S. cents per kg, down 2.1 cents.
– Reuters
