The most active Tokyo rubber futures contract rallied to a 20-month high on Tuesday before slipping as the yen's strength weighed and oil weakened, but tight physical supply kept support intact. The September contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose as high as 329.2 yen, the highest for any benchmark since August 1, 2008 before ending at 323.8 yen, down 2.8 from the previous settlement.
Dealers pegged the upside target around 331 yen - the intraday high seen 20 months ago. The most active contract was well above the closely-watched 14, 50 and 100-day moving averages. In the physical market, Thai, Indonesian and Malaysian rubber grades have been traded at record prices well above $3 a kg as tyre makers scramble to buy the commodity because of tight supplies.
RSS3 changed hands around $3.50 a kg late last week, SIR20 was sold late on Monday at 1.50 to 1.51 US cents per pound, while SMR20 was traded at between $3.365 and $3.405 a kg for nearby shipment, they said. The yen struck back on Tuesday after falling to a seven-month low of 94.78 yen per dollar on Monday, recovering to 94.00 yen.
US crude for May delivery slid 6 cents to $86.56 by 0639 GMT, off Monday's peak of $86.90 a barrel, the highest intraday figure struck since October 2008. ICE Brent declined 11 cents to $85.77 on Tuesday in London. Natural rubber and crude oil, a base product to make synthetic rubber, normally rise and fall in tandem.
Comments
Comments are closed.