TOKYO, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Tokyo rubber futures briefly rose more than 2 percent on Thursday reflecting a strong performance in gold and crude oil, but they later pared gains as gold sank into negative territory.

* The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for February delivery <0#JRU:> closed the morning at 288.0 yen per kg, after earlier touching a high of 292.7 yen, up 2.3 percent. The morning’s low was 286.3 yen.

* Tokyo rubber futures were rising on the strength of gold, rather than any fresh incentives of its own, said Koji Suzuki, a senior analyst at SBI Futures Co Ltd.

* “Gold’s rise comes from a flight-to-quality, but this does not apply to rubber’s climb, which should be seen as simply tracking the precious metal’s rise,” he said.

* Traders have said that there is some strength in rubber’s fundamentals, such as supply tightness, but this has fallen to the wayside in the face of the global financial woes that have rocked commodities markets.

* Spot gold gave up earlier gains and fell below $860 per ounce on Thursday, after earlier rising more than 3 percent to a six-week high.

* U.S. crude for October delivery was mostly unchanged around $97 a barrel, a day after surging by $6 lifted by a decline in weekly U.S. crude stocks and a wave of buying in some commodities. [O/R]

* The dollar was around 104.43 yen after dropping as low as 104.13 yen on trading platform EBS earlier in the session, in sight of a four-month low of 103.54 yen hit on Tuesday. [USD/]

PRICES OF ASIAN PHYSICAL RUBBER COMPARED WITH WEDNESDAY
Grade Price Change
Thai RSS3 (Oct) $2.85/kg -$0.09
Thai RSS3 (Nov) $2.85/kg -$0.09
Thai STR20 (Oct) $2.85/kg -$0.05
Thai STR20 (Nov) $2.85/kg -$0.05
Malaysia SMR20 (Oct) $2.82/kg -$0.08
Malaysia SMR20 (Nov) $2.82/kg -$0.08
Indonesia SIR20 (Oct) $1.27/lb -$0.04
Indonesia SIR20 (Nov) $1.27/lb -$0.04
Thai USS3 91 baht/kg -2 bahts
Thai 60-percent latex (drums, Oct) $1,990/tonne -$50
Thai 60-percent latex (bulk, Oct) $1,850/tonne -$50

Source:  Reuters

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