TOKYO, Aug 16 (Reuters) – Key Tokyo rubber futures erased earlier gains and settled slightly lower on Tuesday, tracking a weaker Shanghai rubber futures market.
The benchmark rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange <0#JRU:> for January delivery settled down 1 yen at 363.8 yen per kg, after rising as high as 368.8 yen earlier when the market followed rising stocks and oil prices.
The most active Shanghai rubber contract for January delivery closed at 33,785 yuan ($5,286) per tonne on Tuesday, down 1.5 percent from Monday’s close of 34,310 yuan per tonne. Volume picked up to 547,854 lots from 464,684 lots on Tuesday.
The Nikkei share average <.N225> edged higher on Tuesday as defensive stocks such as those of real estate firms gained, while mobile device suppliers were lifted by Google Inc’s plans to buy phone hardware maker Motorola Mobility. [.T]
Brent crude futures fell by more than $1 on Tuesday, reversing the previous day’s gains, as soft U.S. economic data spurred fresh fears of looming weak oil demand from the world’s top oil consumer while a rebound in the dollar weighed. [O/R]
Higher oil prices and stocks helped improve investors’ sentiment and prompted them to take more risks earlier in the day. But as Shanghai rubber futures fell, investors booked profits in TOCOM, reversing the market direction.
The key TOCOM futures ended below important technical levels at their 50- and 200-day moving averages, which stood on Tuesday at 376.1 yen and 405.5 yen respectively.
The euro dipped against the dollar on Tuesday, having eased off the previous day’s three-week high, with the focus on whether a Franco-German summit will lay the groundwork for further measures to help quell the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis. [USD/]

Source: Reuters

Comments are closed.