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Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) — Rubber increased for a fourth day in five on speculation demand for the commodity used in tires will increase on a recovery in car sales in Japan.
Futures in Tokyo gained as much as 1.3 percent, extending a 3.9 percent increase last month. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., Japan’s two largest carmakers, led the first rise in the nation’s auto sales in 13 months as government incentives and new hybrid models boosted demand.
“Rubber was supported by expectations for strong figures for car sales,” Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at Tokyo-based commodity broker Fujitomi Co., said today by phone.
February-delivery rubber rose as much as 2.7 yen to 205.9 yen a kilogram ($2,207 a metric ton) before settling at 204.5 yen on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange.
Sales of cars, trucks and buses, excluding minicars, rose 2.3 percent to 198,265 vehicles, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said in a statement today. Toyota sold 90,802 units excluding Lexus-brand cars, up 9 percent. Honda posted a 13 percent gain, and Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s third-largest automaker, sold 1.4 percent fewer vehicles.
Auto sales reversed a yearlong slide as government subsidies and tax cuts helped lift sales of Toyota’s new Prius and Honda’s Insight gasoline-electric hybrid cars. Purchases also rebounded from last August’s biggest drop in almost 10 years, when crude oil prices above $100 a barrel hurt demand.
South Korea
In South Korea, domestic sales rose 13 percent, led by a 23 percent gain for Hyundai Motor Co., the country’s largest carmaker. The sales increased for a second straight month.
Rubber futures also increased as the Japanese currency retreated from a seven-week high against the dollar, raising the appeal of yen-denominated contracts, Saito said.
The yen was little changed at 93.09 as of 3:34 p.m. in Tokyo. The Japanese currency touched 92.55 yesterday, the strongest level since July 13.
January-delivery rubber on the Shanghai Futures Exchange lost 1.7 percent to settle at 18,050 yuan ($2,643) a ton.
Prices dropped after stockpiles monitored by the exchange increased to the highest since March 2008, raising concern that demand in China, the world’s largest consumer, may be slowing.
Rubber inventories increased 7,577 tons to 82,517 tons, based on a survey of 10 warehouses in Shanghai, Shandong, Yunnan, Hainan and Tianjin, the exchange said Aug. 28.
Source: Bloomberg