TOKYO, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures ended down 1.3 percent on Friday, tracking weaker Shanghai futures amid worries over a slowing economy in top consumer China. Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures, which set the tone for tyre rubber prices in Southeast Asia, have been trading near a six-year low hit in early Sepember amid concerns about a rubber glut in Asia.
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for March delivery JRUc6 0#2JRU: finished 2.2 yen lower at 172.2 yen per kg.For the week, the contract declined 1 percent, the first decline in three weeks.
“Overall, the trading volume is on the decline and there were some participants that were cutting losses,” said a source with a Tokyo-based brokerage. “A decline in Shanghai (futures) also weighed.” China’s economic growth is expected to slow to 6.5 percent in 2016 from an expected 6.8 percent in 2015, even as the central bank eases policy further to ward off a sharper slowdown, a Reuters poll showed.
The U.S. dollar was quoted around 119.07 yen JPY= , compared with around 118.98 yen on Thursday afternoon. USD/ Crude oil futures rose on Friday to snap a week-long decline as investors bet falling U.S.production would cut a global surplus, while the country’s gasoline and distillate inventories dropped more than expected.
O/R The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery SNRcv1 fell 215 yuan to finish at 11,610 yuan per tonne. The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for November delivery STFc1 last traded at 127.5 U.S. cents per kg, down 0.4 cent.
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)
