Natural Rubber (NR) prices on rubber futures and physical rubber markets in Asia see-sawed throughout the week. It is noticeable that TOCOM RSS3 was in backwardation, AFET RSS3 and SICOM RSS3 were in contango, and Thai RSS3, STR20, and field latex stayed firm amid NR supply tightness in Thailand caused by scattered rains around the country.
Also, the most active rubber contract on the Shanghai rubber futures for September delivery fell consecutively throughout the week as Chinese investors are still concerned about the tightening monetary policy by the People’s Bank of China and weak manufacturing data in June, a nine-month low.
In the meantime, the Dow Jones industrial average, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite went south, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 tried to climb up. Asian stock markets mostly continued falling on Friday, extending a selloff in line with steep losses on Wall Street after the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday signaled a possible end to its monetary stimulus program.
It is expected that the greenback will continue strengthening against its rival currencies, including the yen, the Thai baht, the Indonesian rupiah, and the Malaysian ringgit in the coming week, and we have to eye the yen whether it could lift up TOCOM RSS3 and NR prices on physical rubber markets in the region.
Source: IRCo
