This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 8:25 am and is filed under Rubber News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
TOKYO, March 10 (Reuters) – Tokyo rubber futures were flat on Tuesday in thin trade as a slump in demand for the industrial commodity saps buying interest, with the benchmark contract having lost more than 10 percent of its value since January.
* Total trading volume for the six contracts was 5,566 lots, compared with 7,663 lots on Monday.
* “The pace of investors dropping out of the market has picked up as the economic climate deteriorates,” a Tokyo based trader said.
* He blamed the light trading volume for the virtually unchanged prices on Tuesday.
* The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for August delivery <0#JRU:> ended at 137.6 yen per kg, up 0.1 yen or 0.07 percent from Monday’s close, after moving narrowly between 136.5 yen and 138.1 yen.
* The benchmark contract has lost more than 10 percent of its value since rising to this year’s high of 156.3 yen in January, hit by a slump in demand for the industrial commodity used in tyres.
* U.S. oil futures held above $47 a barrel on Tuesday, as dealers mulled the possibility of deeper OPEC output cuts at a meeting this weekend and ahead of weekly U.S. stocks data expected to show another fall in crude inventories. [O/R]
* Japan’s Nikkei average dipped 0.4 percent on Tuesday to a fresh 26-year closing low as drugmakers slid amid worries about their global competitiveness after Merck proposed to take over Schering-Plough . [.T]
* Thailand’s plan to buy 200,000 tonnes of rubber from farmers is expected to be delayed again to April while a process is put in place to ensure money goes to the people supposed to benefit, agriculture sector officials said on Monday. [ID:nBKK478672]
* Japan’s crude rubber inventories totalled 11,279 tonnes as of Feb. 20, up 9.5 percent from Feb. 10, industry data showed on Monday. [ID:nT258898]
PRICES OF ASIAN PHYSICAL RUBBER COMPARED WITH MONDAY
Grade Price Change
Thai RSS3 (Mar) $1.44/kg unchanged
Thai RSS3 (Apr) $1.44/kg unchanged
Thai STR20 (Mar) $1.35/kg unchanged
Thai STR20 (Apr) $1.35/kg unchanged
Malaysia SMR20 (Mar) $1.35/kg unchanged
Malaysia SMR20 (Apr) $1.35/kg unchanged
Indonesia SIR20 (Mar) $0.56/lb unchanged
Indonesia SIR20 (Apr) $0.56/lb unchanged
Thai USS3 44 baht/kg -2 bahts
Thai 60-percent latex (drums, Mar) $1,300/tonne unchanged
Thai 60-percent latex (bulk, Mar) $1,200/tonne unchanged
Source: Reuters