By Yium Tavarolit
The Movements of Global Stocks, Finance and Energy
Asian stock markets ended mixed on Friday amid positive U.S. jobs data, a weak yen against the dollar, and China’s negative economic data during the week. The Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng indices closed lower at 2,278.40 and at 22,533.18, but Japan’s Nikkei 225 index finished higher at 12,560.95 on Friday. At the same time, Australia’s S&P/ASX200 index settled at 5,123.44.
European stocks advanced for a fourth week, the longest winning streak in almost three months, as the region’s leaders eased constraints on national budgets and U.S. retail sales and jobless-benefit claims pointed to a recovery in the world’s biggest economy. The Stoxx 600 index climbed to 297.44, and Germany’s DAX 30 index gained 0.6% to 8,042.85 on Friday. Meanwhile,France’s CAC 40 index closed 1.2% higher at 3,844.03, and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index closed at 6,489.65on the same day.
Wall Street remained in an uptrend during the week supported by a decline in new claims forU.S. unemployment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 25.03 points, or 0.2%, to 14,514.11 on Friday. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index pulled back 2.51 points, or 0.2%, to 1,560.72, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 9.86 points, or 0.3%, to 3,249.07.
The dollar dropped to a one-week low against the euro as a report showed U.S. inflation is contained, giving the Federal Reserve scope to maintain its monetary stimulus program. The euro strengthened against the dollar at around $1.3074 on Friday in New York. The dollar was at around Y95.24. The Thai baht rose to THB29.51 per dollar while the Malaysian ringgit was rangebound and stayed at MYR3.1110 per dollar, and The Indonesian rupiah fell to IDR9703 per dollar.
Crude oil futures remained in an uptrend during the week on the back of firm Wall Street, lots of positive U.S. economic news, and investors’ optimism about future demand for oil. Light, sweet crude oil for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled 42 cents higher, at $93.45 a barrel. That’s the highest price since 20 February, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Rubber Markets
Swinging global economic data, together with weak technical charts and weak auto sales in China in February, undermined investor confidence in an improvement on the rubber market despite a weak yen against the dollar as well as the news on rising natural rubber (NR) stocks in Qingdao, Shanghai, Japan, major NR producing countries and a selloff in Chinese equities early in the week triggered heavy sales on rubber futures across Asia throughout the week. These resulted in the falls of IRCo’s DCP and NR prices across the board on Friday compared with an earlier Friday as per the table below.
|
Description |
15-Mar-13 |
8-Mar-13 |
Change |
Unit |
|
IRCo’s DCP |
282.38 |
297.00 |
-14.62 |
US cents/kg |
|
TOCOM/RSS3 * |
|
|
|
|
|
– Mar. |
268.50 |
279.90 |
-11.40 |
Yen/kg |
|
– Aug. |
282.90 |
298.20 |
-15.30 |
Yen/kg |
|
– Volume |
11,310 |
10,453 |
857 |
Lots |
|
SHFE/RSS3 ** |
22,950 |
24,010 |
-1,060 |
Yuan/ton |
|
AFET/RSS3 |
|
|
|
|
|
– Apr. |
87.20 |
90.35 |
-3.15 |
THB/kg |
|
– Oct. |
87.90 |
94.55 |
-6.65 |
THB/kg |
|
– Volume |
275 |
432 |
-157 |
Lots |
|
SMR20 *** |
286.00 |
301.00 |
-15.00 |
US cents/kg |
|
SIR20 *** |
276.00 |
291.00 |
-15.00 |
US cents/kg |
|
RRIT |
|
|
|
|
|
– RSS3 |
86.55 |
90.25 |
-3.70 |
THB/kg |
|
– STR20 |
82.35 |
86.50 |
-4.15 |
THB/kg |
|
– USS3 |
78.89 |
80.90 |
-2.01 |
THB/kg |
|
– Conc. Latex |
61.15 |
61.85 |
-0.70 |
THB/kg |
|
– Field Latex |
77.00 |
80.00 |
-3.00 |
THB/kg |
|
Notes: * the day sessions ** the most active month is Sep. *** offers, fob prices for Apr. & May deliveries |
||||
IRCo’s technical MACD reversed its uptrend and pulled down IRCo’s Signal Line further in negative territory on Friday. In the meantime, IRCo’s technical RSI also reversed its uptrend and fell to 22.19% on Friday from 23.21% on an earlier Friday.
The swinging of global economic and daily incoming data and information are expected to dictate and to direct NR prices on rubber futures and physical rubber markets further in the coming week.
Source: IRCo
