Spot rubber rules weak

Spot rubber rules weak

Kottayam, March 8

Physical rubber prices turned weak on Monday. The prices slipped on buyer resistance following the declines in domestic rubber futures on NMCE. Sheet rubber moved down to Rs 144 from Rs 144.50 a kg amidst scattered transactions. The trend was mixed.

Futures decline

The March futures for RSS 4 declined to Rs 142.80 (143.50), April to Rs 147.80 (148.38), May to Rs 150.79 (151.49) and June to Rs 154 (154.58) a kg on National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE). RSS 3 improved at its March futures to ¥289.4 (¥283.5) (Rs 145.73), April to ¥291 (¥283.9), May to ¥292.6 (¥286.1) and June to ¥294.2 (¥287.6) a kg during the day session on Tokyo Commodity Exchange. RSS 3 firmed up marginally to Rs 150.60 (150.34) a kg on Singapore Commodity Exchange (SICOM).

Spot prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 144 (144.50); RSS-5: 142 (142.50); ungraded: 140 (140.50); ISNR 20: 141 (141) and latex 60 per cent: 93 (93).






Rubber Drops From One-Week High as Oil Rally Stalls, Yen Gains

March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Rubber retreated from a one-week high as a drop in crude oil cut the cost of making rival synthetic products used in tires and a stronger Japanese currency weakened the appeal of yen-denominated contracts.

Futures in Tokyo fell as much as 1.4 percent, snapping a two-day, 4.5 percent winning streak. The price earlier climbed to 297.9 yen a kilogram ($3,309 a metric ton), the highest level since March 2.

Oil declined for the first day in three as analysts forecast an increase in U.S. crude supplies last week, signaling demand from the world’s biggest energy consumer may be slowing. The yen advanced against all of its 16 major counterparts as an advance in Asian equities came to a halt, boosting demand for Japan’s currency as a refuge.

“Rubber lost support from the energy and currency markets,” Takaki Shigemoto, an analyst at research and investment company JSC Corp. in Tokyo, said today by phone. “Losses in equities markets also reduced investors’ risk appetite, leading to sales of commodities.”

Rubber for August delivery, the most-active contract, fell as much as 4.2 yen to 293.1 yen before trading at 294 yen on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at 11:43 a.m. local time.

The yen traded at 89.90 per dollar after reaching 90.68 yesterday, the weakest since Feb. 23. It gained amid speculation that Japanese companies are bringing home overseas earnings before the nation’s fiscal year ends this month.

Wintering Season

Crude oil for April delivery dropped as much as 0.6 percent to $81.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange before trading at $81.46. The Energy Department report scheduled for release tomorrow probably will show U.S. crude oil stockpiles expanded last week, according to the median of 12 estimates from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

In the cash market, shippers in Thailand, the world’s largest producer and exporter, offered RSS-3 grade rubber for May shipment at $3.26 a kilogram today, JSC’s Shigemoto said. The price gained from $3.24 on March 5 as supply declined amid the wintering season, the low-production period that normally lasts until April, he said.

Thailand’s natural rubber production this year is estimated to fall to 3.1 million metric tons, compared with an earlier forecast of 3.33 million tons, because of dry weather caused by El Nino, Apichart Jongskul, secretary general of the Office of Agricultural Economics, said Jan. 13.

Natural rubber supply in Thailand had “robust” annualized growth of 23.8 percent in January, according to a February report from the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries.

September-delivery rubber on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped 0.9 percent to 24,575 yuan ($3,600) a ton at 10:52 a.m. local time.