Asia's naphtha crack extended losses to reach a three-session low of $101.95 a tonne on Wednesday, dragged down by weaker sentiment in the West and a lack of fresh factors to support the recent bull-run in the East, traders said. They added that all the supporting factors behind the strong fundamentals in Asia, including firm demand and a lack of alternative feedstock to replace naphtha, have already been factored in.
"The market feels that it has reached the ceiling. There is no more bullish news and it seems like there are still cargoes available," said a Singapore-based trader.
Asia's top naphtha importer Formosa Petrochemical Corp in the meantime was out seeking open-specification naphtha for second-half March delivery through a tender closing on February 9.
This came shortly after South Korea's YNCC, KPIC and Chinese trader Unipec had issued their purchase tenders this week.
Malaysia-based Titan and Thailand's IRPC have crackers that are currently in maintenance mode while Taiwan's CPC has a cracker scheduled for turnaround from mid February.
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