Rubber prices for the nearby month on Tokyo rubber futures improved, together with rubber prices for the most active month on Shanghai rubber futures, after the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday pledged to keep its interest rates on hold until mid-2015.
On the following day, Wall Street recovered from its recent sell-off that spurred Asian stock markets on Thursday and Friday, and weakened the yen to nearly 120 against the dollar. In addition to that, crude oil prices also rebounded on Friday.
On the physical front, natural rubber (NR) prices followed the movements of rubber futures in the region as NR supply dropped sharply as southern Thailand, which is a major NR production area, have been experiencing heavy rains and flood. And it is expected that the heavy rains in southernThailand will continue in the coming week. Meanwhile, the Thai government has been buying rubber from the market through a 6 billion baht ($182 million) fund to support NR prices.
Due to the above mentioned reasons, NR prices in the coming week should continue improving but the rubber market is likely to be subdued because a long public holiday is just around the corner.
