Rubber Climbs From Three-Week Low as Yen’s Drop Boosts Appeal

Rubber Climbs From Three-Week Low as Yen’s Drop Boosts Appeal
Posted: 08 Jun 2010 01:26 AM PDT


June 8 (Bloomberg) -- Rubber rebounded from a three-week low as a drop in the Japanese currency against the dollar raised the appeal of yen-denominated contracts and investors’ concerns about the European fiscal crisis eased.

Futures in Tokyo climbed as much as 1.7 percent after slumping 6.1 percent yesterday, the most since May 7. The yen weakened against all of its most-traded counterparts as Asian equities ended two days of losses.

The dollar gained and Asian stocks advanced after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said that the U.S. recovery is moving at a “moderate” pace and he sees consumers in the world’s largest economy “coming back.” The euro rose, after reaching a four-year low against the dollar yesterday, amid speculation it has fallen too rapidly.

“Rubber recovered as selling spurred by European debt concern subsided,” Takaki Shigemoto, an analyst at research and investment company JSC Corp. in Tokyo, said today by phone. “Buying was not active as concern about economic recovery remains,” Shigemoto said.

Rubber for November delivery, the most-active contract, added 0.5 percent to 258.7 yen per kilogram ($2,822 a metric ton) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at 12:14 p.m. local time. Earlier, the price fell to 255.8 yen, the lowest since May 18.

Yen Declines

The yen fell to 91.68 per dollar at 12:18 p.m. Tokyo time from 91.37 in New York. The U.S. economic recovery is “moderate-paced” and started late last summer, Bernanke said yesterday, boosting investor confidence after concern over Europe’s debt crisis drove benchmark U.S. stock indexes to seven-month lows. Most Asian stocks rose, helping the MSCI Asia Pacific Index gain 0.4 percent.

In Thailand, the world’s largest exporter, the free-on- board price of RSS-3 grade rubber for July delivery fell 2.1 percent to 117.1 baht a kilogram, the Rubber Institute of Thailand said yesterday on its website. The group, which reviews prices once a day, will issue new data in the afternoon. The price rose to a record 130.55 baht on April 27.

Thailand may increase a levy on natural-rubber exports to promote processing and stabilize local prices, according to a deputy minister.

The revised levy may range from 0.9 baht ($0.03) to 5 baht a kilogram based on a sliding scale of free-on-board prices, Supachai Phosu, deputy minister of agriculture and cooperatives, said in an interview yesterday. The existing levy ranges from 0.9 baht a kilo to 1.4 baht. Should the cabinet approve the revised rates they will start on Oct. 1, Supachai said by phone.

September-delivery rubber on the Shanghai Futures Exchange added 5 yuan to 20,630 yuan ($3,020) a ton at 11:20 a.m. local time.

(bloomberg.com)





China’s Stocks Rise From 13-Month Low as Automakers Advance
Posted: 08 Jun 2010 01:24 AM PDT
By Bloomberg News

June 8 (Bloomberg) -- China’s stocks rose, with the benchmark index advancing from a 13-month low, as consumer and technology companies gained on speculation their earnings will be most shielded from a slowdown in economic growth.

SAIC Motor Co. gained 1.1 percent as sales increased. Shaanxi Broadcast & TV Network Intermediary Co. jumped 10 percent after the Shanghai Securities News said the government will announce trials for merging media networks. Bank of China Ltd. slumped for a fifth day on concern fundraising will hurt shareholders’ stakes.

“Markets are very challenging at the moment,” Brian Jackson, a Hong Kong-based strategist at Royal Bank of Canada, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “We think the best approach is just to wait it out to see how things develop in the next few months before you take on a lot of risk.”

The Shanghai Composite Index fluctuated between gains and losses before closing 0.1 percent higher at 2,513.95, rising from its lowest close since April 30, 2009. The CSI 300 Index added 0.1 percent to 2,699.34, with a measure of consumer discretionary stocks advancing the most.

The Shanghai index has retreated 24 percent this year, Asia’s worst performing market, on concern the property market is cooling and Europe’s debt threatens China’s exports.

SAIC gained 1.1 percent to 12.41 yuan after saying sales last month advanced 26 percent from a year earlier. FAW Car Co. added 2.1 percent to 16.28 yuan. Beiqi Foton Motor Co. rose 1.8 percent to 17.25 yuan.

Auto Sales

China’s passenger-car sales have risen every month since February 2009 after the government halved the consumption tax on small vehicles to 5 percent the preceding month, according to separate data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. The tax was increased to 7.5 percent this year.

China is moving from growth led by exports to one driven by domestic consumption and investors can benefit by buying shares of multinationals with “exposure” to the country and selling industrial metal producers, according to Bank of America-Merrill Lynch Global Research.

Rising salaries are also “positive” for household spending, Royal Bank of Canada’s Jackson said.

Honda Motor Co. suffered its second strike in China in less than a month as workers at a plant partly owned by affiliate Yutaka Giken Co. walked out demanding higher pay, forcing the parts maker to close the factory. Foxconn Technology Group, which manufactures Apple Inc. iPhones, announced the base wage for factory workers in Shenzhen will double after worker suicides.

Broadcast Stocks

Demands for higher wages are fast becoming an issue in China and companies need to get used to it, said Jun Ma, an economist at Deutsche Bank AG.

Shaanxi Broadcast jumped by the 10 percent daily limit to 9.47 yuan. Huawen Media Investment Corp. rose 10 percent to 6.07 yuan and Chengdu Dr Peng Telecom & Media Group Co. also gained 10 percent to 9.94 yuan.

Broadcasters will be in charge of constructing the networks, the Shanghai Securities News reported. Telecom companies will be allowed to produce radio and TV programming, the newspaper reported, citing rules released by the State Council the beginning of this year.

Gains were limited as BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research cut their recommendations on China and Hong Kong stocks to “neutral” from “overweight” on speculation that policy easing may be “far away” and growth expectations will continue to fall.

China is now the most “overbought” market in Asia while its yield curve has narrowed “sharply” to 102 basis points from 160 basis points in mid-April, strategists led by Sadiq Currimbhoy said in a report dated yesterday.

Slowing Growth

The U.S. supplanted China and Brazil as the most attractive market for investors as confidence in the global economic recovery wanes in the wake of the Greek debt crisis, according to a pool of investors and analysts who are Bloomberg users.

China’s economic growth may slip to between 10 percent and 11 percent this quarter as industrial production and investment expand at a slower pace, a researcher for the cabinet said.

“The 11.9 percent growth rate in the first quarter won’t be sustained and the outlook for investment and export growth is uncertain,” Zhang Liqun, a researcher at the State Council’s Development and Research Center, said yesterday on the sidelines of an economic forum in Beijing.

Bank of China, the nation’s third-largest lender, slid 1.1 percent to 3.51 yuan. The stock has lost 14 percent since June 2 when the bank started selling 40 billion yuan ($5.9 billion) of convertible bonds to replenish capital drained by record credit growth last year.

The following stocks also rose or fell in China trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names:

Shandong Blue Sail Plastic & Rubber Co. (002382 CH), a glove maker, rose 3.3 percent to 38.10 yuan. Citic Securities Co. recommended investors accumulate the stock, saying sales will accelerate.

Tsingtao Brewery Co. (600600 CH), China’s biggest brewery by market value, gained 1.2 percent to 36 yuan. The company may buy Foster’s brewing business, the Beijing-based Economic Observer reported on its website today, citing an unidentified person. Liz McLachlan, a Melbourne-based spokeswoman for Foster’s, declined to comment on the report when contacted.

(indiainfoline.com)Search Amazon.com Computers for





Spot rubber prices ends unchanged
Posted: 08 Jun 2010 01:22 AM PDT
The spot rubber prices ended unchanged on Monday (07 June 2010). Sharp declined in the leading international indices failed to make any impact there as there were no quantity sellers on any grade fearing short supplies. Sheet rubber ended steady at Rs 168 per kg.

The June futures for RSS 4 rose to Rs 168.49 (167.83), July to Rs 164.90 (162.99), August to Rs 158.97 (157.15) and September to Rs 154.99 (153.75) a kg on the National Multi Commodity Exchange.

Spot rates were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 168 (168); RSS-5: 165 (165); ungraded: 163 (163); ISNR 20: 151.50 (151.50) and latex 60 per cent: 110.50 (110.50).

(indiainfoline.com)