SHANGHAI: Japanese rubber futures edged down on Friday, retreating from Thursday’s two-week high, weighed down by the European Union’s imposition of anti-dumping duties on Chinese tyre imports and a jump in the yen.
The Osaka Exchange (OSE) rubber contract for December delivery was down 2.1 yen, or 0.5 percent, at 419.8 yen (USD2.60) per kg. The contract gained 2.32 percent this week.
The rubber contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) for September delivery rose 10 yuan, or 0.06percent, to 16,905 yuan (USD2,493.36) per metric ton.
The most active September butadiene rubber contract on the SHFE rose 245 yuan, or 1.97percent, to 12,655 yuan per metric ton. The European Commission said on Thursday it had imposed anti-dumping duties on the import of tyres for cars and lighter trucks and buses from China. The duties, which followed an investigation launched in November last year, vary from 4.3percent to 45.3percent.
Since tires account for the bulk of natural rubber consumption, the duties could dent demand from Chinese tyre exporters targeting the EU market, said a Singapore-based trader.
The yen bounced on Friday on news that Japan plans to encourage pension funds to increase their holdings of domestic financial assets, a move analysts said could offer greater support to the battered currency than intervention.
The yen JPY= jumped from the weaker side of 162 per dollar to an intraday peak of 161.285. It was last 0.46percent stronger at 161.64 per dollar. A stronger currency makes yen-denominated assets less affordable to overseas buyers.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore Exchange’s SICOM platform for August delivery last traded at 215 US cents per kg, down 1 percent, as of 0700 GMT.
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