enchmark Tokyo rubber futures ended down 1.7% on Tuesday, reflecting sharp falls in Shanghai futures amid oversupply worries.
“Both Shanghai and Tocom fell on lack of buying interest,” said a Tokyo-based dealer who declined to be identified.
The Asian rubber producers meeting on Thursday will look at measures to push up prices, but market dealers believe they will struggle while dealing with oversupply amid worries about top user China’s cooling economy.
Tokyo Commodity Exchange (Tocom) futures, which set the tone for tyre rubber prices in Southeast Asia, ended just above the psychologically important 200 yen level, a day after hitting a three-and-a-half month high of 208 yen.
Signs of a cooling housing market in China also raised concerns over its economy.
Average new home prices in China’s 70 major cities fell 2.6% in October from a year earlier, the second consecutive month showing an annual fall, Reuters calculated from official data published on Tuesday.
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for April delivery, finished 3.5 yen lower at 200.2 yen (RM5.76) per kg, after falling more than 2% earlier.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery fell 505 yuan to finish at 12,515 yuan (US$2,045) per tonne after falling as much as 4.8% earlier.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s Sicom exchange for December delivery last traded at 150.00 US cents per kg, down 3 cents.
The US dollar was quoted around 116.58 yen, little changed from Monday afternoon.
– Reuters, November 18, 2014.
– themalaysianinsider.com
