Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures rose to an about 1-week high on Tuesday after a 3-day weekend in Japan, backed by a rally in Shanghai futures and stronger oil prices. The Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) rubber contract for March delivery finished 2.6 yen, or 1.5 percent, higher at 172.0 yen ($1.52) per kg. The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery jumped 440 yuan to finish at 12,750 yuan ($1,842) per tonne.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for November delivery last traded at 134.2 US cents per kg, up 1.2 cent. "Higher oil prices also gave support," a Tokyo-based dealer said. Oil prices rose on Tuesday as more evidence emerged that crude exports from Iran, OPEC's third-largest producer, are declining before the imposition of new US sanctions and as a hurricane moved across the Gulf of Mexico.
TOCOM launched new rubber futures on Tuesday as the bourse looks to return to profitability by expanding its product listings and to compete with other Asian exchanges. Its new technically specified rubber (TSR) 20 futures contract for April delivery opened at 163.5 yen ($1.44) per kg and closed at 160.0 yen, down 2.1 percent from the opening price.
TSR and TOCOM-listed ribbed smoked sheet (RSS) No.3 are both used for products such as automobile tyres, but production and consumption of TSR has overtaken RSS in the past decades.
Total trading volume for TSR futures during day-trade came to 2,088 contracts, against 5,276 for RSS futures and 2017 average daily turnover of 8,699 contracts for RSS futures including evening trade. "We need to watch the development of new product at least for a month to see if it's successful or not," an analyst at a Japanese commodity broker said.
Comments
Comments are closed.