This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 7:25 pm 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, Oct 19 (Reuters) – Tokyo rubber futures rose more than 2 percent on Monday, bouncing back towards 220 yen per kg on speculative buying as a rally in equity markets inspired optimism about demand from China, the world’s biggest rubber consumer.
* Oil’s rise to a 12-month high above $79 a barrel before trading at $78.54 also fuelled buying. [O/R] U.S. corporate earnings results, a gauge of the strength of the world’s biggest economy, could again be a key driver of oil prices this week.
* The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for March delivery <0#JRU:> was at 218.4 per kg at 0634 GMT, up 5.6 yen or 2.6 percent from the previous session.
* The benchmark earlier rose as high as 219.5 yen, just below a one-year high of 219.6 yen marked on Oct. 14.
* “The market turned bullish on a jump in Chinese stocks. That fuelled optimism the economy there is in good shape,” said a manager at a Japanese commodity brokerage.
* China and Hong Kong stocks rose on Monday on optimism Beijing is on track to meet the government’s economic growth target. [ID:nHKG223217]
* China’s gross domestic product grew more than 7 percent in the first nine months, a senior official from the National Development and Reform Commission said on Monday. [ID:nBJC002361]
* “People looking at technicals and those who are afraid of inflation against the backdrop of a rally in oil prices are betting that the next target of 230 yen (for the Tokyo rubber market) could be well in sight,” the manager said.
“But I don’t think that’s an easy target in light of sporadic demand in the physical market currently,” unless an unexpected supply shortage is caused by unfavourable weather in producing countries, the manager said.
* The yen held near three-week lows against the dollar on expectations Japanese investors will short the yen as they step up buying of higher-yielding foreign bonds. [USD/]
* Rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 4 percent in the week ended Thursday, the exchange said on Friday.
Source: Reuters