TOKYO, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Benchmark TOCOM rubber futures fell in early trade on Friday, dragged down by lower Japanese equities and slumping oil prices on concerns over global economic growth, but the contract is still on course for its first weekly gain in 7 weeks.
FUNDAMENTALS
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for March delivery fell 2.4 yen, or 1.3 percent, to 179.9 yen per kg by 0040 GMT, after rising for a third straight session in the previous day. RUB/T
The contract is on track for a 1.7 percent gain for the week, but remains not far off five-year lows touched last week, hurt by oversupply, stiff competition and worries over demand in top consumer China.
German exports plunged in August by their largest amount since the height of the financial crisis and leading institutes slashed their forecasts for growth, fuelling a debate on whether Berlin is doing enough to prop up Europe’s economy and its own.
British finance minister George Osborne said on Thursday that the euro zone risks slipping back into crisis after recent weak economic data, something to which Britain’s economy would not be immune.
The woes of Cooper Tire & Rubber Company CTB.N will deflate the appeal of joint ventures in China. The tyre maker is being forced out of its majority-owned Chinese subsidiary by the local partner which last year undermined a $2.5 billion sale of the American company.
MARKET NEWS
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock average .N225 fell 1.2 percent early on Friday after U.S. stocks slumped 2 percent the previous day on anxieties about global economic growth.
Brent broke below $90 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since the summer of 2012, joining a rout in U.S. crude and gasoline prices as sinking stock prices, Europe’s worsening outlook and surging oil inventories hammered energy markets.
The U.S. dollar tumbled to a three-week low against the yen on Thursday as investors continued to pare back bullish bets on the greenback after minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting pushed out expectations on when interest rates will begin to rise. The U.S. dollar was quoted around 107.80 yen JPY= early on Friday.
Copper and other base metals rebounded on Thursday after U.S. central bank authorities signalled they would not rush to boost interest rates, extending a period of cheap capital for industry and investors.
– Reuters
