Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures slipped on Thursday, dragged down by growing worries about slowing demand in top buyer China due to prolonged US-Sino trade war and as tanking equities markets reduced risk appetite. The benchmark TOCOM rubber contract for January delivery finished 2.6 yen or 1.5% higher at 166.0 yen ($1.57) per kg.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for September delivery fell 95 yuan to finish at 11,375 yuan ($1,618) per tonne. China's new technically specified rubber (TSR) 20 futures contract was last down 100 yuan at 9,865 yuan per tonne.
TOCOM's TSR 20 futures contract for February delivery closed down 0.4% at 145.4 yen per kg. The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for September delivery last traded at 129.8 US cents per kg, down 0.9%. "Intensifying US-Sino trade war and tanking equity markets were behind the fall in rubber prices," said Satoru Yoshida, a commodity analyst with Rakuten Securities. "Slowing demand in China, hit by the trade row, is causing built in rubber inventories in Shanghai, which is also a negative sign," he said.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average hit a nine-day low on Thursday as resurgent global recession fears triggered a Wall Street slide and sent the safe-haven yen higher, weighing heavily on the country's export firms. Oil slipped further below $60 a barrel on Thursday, extending the previous session's 3% drop, pressured by mounting recession concerns and a surprise boost in US crude inventories.