BANGKOK, Nov 27 (Reuters) – Tokyo rubber futures tumbled
nearly 5 percent to a one-week low on Friday, as the surging
Japanese yen and falling oil prices spurred stop-loss selling,
dealers said.
* The benchmark rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity
Exchange <0#JRU:> for May delivery fell 11.9 yen, or 4.7 percent,
to settle at 241.2 yen ($2.79) per kg. It fell as low as 240.3
yen per kg, the lowest since Nov. 19.
* “Players liquidated contracts in a bid to stop losses as
the yen surged and oil prices kept falling,” one dealer said.
* The yen hit its highest level in 14 years on the dollar on
Friday and jumped against higher-yielding currencies as investors
cut risky trades due to concerns about debt problems in Dubai,
while Japan signalled growing discomfort with the surge. [ID:
nT35078]. At 0807 GMT, the yen as at 86.35 per dollar.
* A firmer Japanese yen makes dollar-based rubber futures
cheaper and usually encourages players to unwind rubber contracts
to stop losses.
* Dealers said falling oil prices were also a factor that
weighed rubber futures down.
* U.S. crude January futures fell below $73 a barrel
as investors shifted to safe-haven assets.
* Rising Japanese rubber stocks also weighed on TOCOM prices,
dealers said.
* Japan’s crude rubber inventories totalled 4,721 tonnes as
of Nov. 20, up 21 percent from a record low of 3,902 tonnes 10
days earlier, data from the Rubber Trade Association of Japan
showed on Friday. [ID:nT42962]
($1=86.39 Yen)

Source: Reuters

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