SHANGHAI: Japanese rubber futures gained for the seventh straight session on Thursday, rising to their highest in a year on supply shortages as rubber enters its wintering season, bolstered by a rally in Asian stocks and firm oil prices.
The Osaka Exchange (OSE) rubber contract for August delivery was up 3.4 yen, or 0.91percent, at 377.6 yen (USD2.42) per kg, hitting its highest since early February last year.
The rubber contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) for May delivery fell 80 yuan, or 0.46percent, to 17,125 yuan (USD2,504.35) per metric ton.
The most active April butadiene rubber contract on the SHFE fell 405 yuan, or 3.07percent, to 12,770 yuan per metric ton. Rubber experienced a strong post-CNY rally, with the Japanese, Chinese and Singapore natural rubber contracts all gaining at least 4percent so far this week. With rubber supply suppressed by the annual wintering season, and an expected increase in demand, prices will hinge on winter inventory destocking and the operating rates of tire manufacturers, Chinese brokerage CITIC Securities Futures said.
The prices of Thailand’s benchmark export-grade smoked rubber sheet (RSS3) and block rubber have risen sharply since the start of February, amid tighter supply ahead of the wintering season. The yen traded near two-week lows, bogged down by a murky rate outlook in Japan. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.15 percent, breaching the 59,000 mark for the first time over waning expectations of an imminent rate hike and robust results from Nvidia, joining other Asian stocks on a bullish run.
Oil prices inched up as investors gauged whether US-Iran talks could avert a military conflict that risks supply disruptions, though gains were capped by a build in US crude inventories.
Front-month rubber contract on Singapore Exchange’s SICOM platform for March delivery last traded at 202.8 US cents per kg, down 1.2percent as of 0700 GMT.
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