Rubber retreated from the highest level in more than a week as Japanese industrial production missed estimates, spurring sales of Asian stocks and reducing investor appetite for the commodity used in tires.
The contract for delivery in July lost 0.3 percent to 314.9 yen a kilogram ($3,466 a metric ton) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at 12:03 p.m., paring this month’s rally to 4.2 percent. Earlier, it rose to 317.2 yen, the highest level since Jan. 21.
Japanese output rose 2.5 percent last month, compared with estimates for a 4.1 percent gain, while U.S. gross domestic product shrank at a 0.1 percent annual rate last quarter, the worst performance since 2009. Data tomorrow will probably show U.S. employers added more workers this month, after the Federal Reserve said yesterday it will keep purchasing securities at the rate of $85 billion a month.
“Worse-than-expected data put a drag on the market,” Naohiro Niimura, a partner at research company Market Risk Advisory in Tokyo, said today by e-mail.
Losses were limited amid expectations that shipment restrictions and a recovery in demand will bolster prices this year, said Takaki Shigemoto at research company JSC Corp. in Tokyo.
Diminishing rubber supplies and record car sales are extending a five-month bull market that’s poised to raise costs for tiremakers, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Futures will advance to 350 yen in Tokyo this year, the median of 12 analyst estimates show.
Rubber for May delivery was little changed at 26,190 yuan ($4,211) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. Thai rubber free-on-board was unchanged at 96.85 baht ($3.25) a kilogram yesterday, according to the country’s rubber research institute.
Source: Bloomberg
