Tokyo rubber futures were narrowly mixed on Friday, taking a breather from a 4 percent rally over the past three sessions as a halt in crude oil gains encouraged investors to lock in profits. Rubber prices often benefit from higher crude oil prices, as that is expected to encourage a shift to natural rubber from synthetic rubber, a petroleum product.
The most active rubber contract for September delivery on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange fell 1.5 yen or 0.5 percent to 284.2 yen per kg. But the April contract was up 0.9 yen at 275.5 yen. On Thursday the September contract rose to as high as 286.8 yen, the highest for any benchmark since March 19, before ending the day at 285.7 yen.
US crude oil futures edged down in Asian trade on Friday but held above $107 a barrel, supported after a bomb attack on a major Iraqi crude pipeline slashed exports from the country's southern oil port for the first time in years. US light crude for May delivery fell 44 cents to $107.14 a barrel, having risen more than 6 percent earlier this week.
A drop in the dollar versus the yen also cast a shadow over the TOCOM market. A stronger dollar would make dollar-based rubber more expensive and often spurs speculative booing on TOCOM. The dollar fell to 99.45 yen, in sight of a 13-year low of 95.77 yen. But traders said a substantial fall below 280 yen for the TOCOM September contract was unlikely given expectations that China, the world's biggest rubber consumer, would buy physical shipments on any price falls in the coming month.
In China, irregular weather has forced plantations in the south to postpone tapping, reducing rubber stocks. In Thailand, the biggest rubber producer, and Malaysia, the third biggest, farmers have stopped tapping during the dry season, when trees stop producing latex. They should resume tapping in late April.