TOKYO, May 22 (Reuters) – Tokyo rubber futures fell around 1 percent on Friday as the yen extended gains and weak stock markets sapped investor appetite for the industrial commodity.
* The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for October delivery <0#JRU:> fell 1.8 yen, or 1.1 percent, to 160.6 yen per kg from Thursday’s settlement at 162.5 yen.
* “The market looks to have been in a downtrend since the beginning of this month, when it hit a high of 178.90 yen,” said Shuji Sugata, a manager in Mitsubishi Corp Futures and Securities’ research team. “A recovery earlier this week was short-lived, suggesting the market is capped technically.”
* The dollar slid to a five-month low against a basket of major currencies on Friday after a warning that Britain’s triple-A credit rating could be cut stoked worries that the United States could face the same fate.
* The greenback hit a two-month low below 94 yen on Friday. A higher yen deflates yen-based futures prices. [USD/]
* Japan’s Nikkei share average <.N225> fell 0.4 percent with exporters hit by the stronger yen.
* Analysts said stock markets were not moved by the Bank of Japan’s upgrading its assessment of the economy or uncertainty before a June 1 deadline for a pledged restructuring plan by U.S. automaker General Motors , as these had largely been factored in. [ID:nT370656] [ID:nN21325204] [.T]
* Oil hovered above $61 a barrel on Friday, off six-month highs hit the previous day, as disappointing jobs and factory data dented hopes that the economy of the United States, the world’s top energy user, was set for a quick rebound. [O/R]
* Japan’s crude rubber inventories totalled 9,416 tonnes as of May 10, down 4.4 percent from 10 days earlier, industry data showed on Friday. [ID:nT76355]
* The data also showed China’s natural rubber imports rose 28 percent to 178,766 tonnes in April from a year earlier, with the country’s imports from No.2 supplier Indonesia doubling to 60,122 tonnes. But China imported 12 percent less rubber in the first four months of this year than in the same period last year. [ID:nSHA69490]
* Thai rubber exports fell 16.5 percent in April from a year earlier due to limited supply and extra holidays, according to government data and traders on Thursday. [ID:nBKK424275]
* Thailand, the world’s biggest rubber producer, is expected to produce about 3.2 million tonnes of rubber by 2013, around 200,000 tonnes higher than this year’s level due to a state-sponsored planting programme, the Thailand Rubber Research Institute’s head said.

Source: Reuters

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