Asian rubber futures settled mixed Friday, with Tocom snapping a four-day rising streak with long liquidation and technical selling followed by fresh buying as the yen weakened, trade participants said.
RSS3 rubber was offered above $2,900 a metric ton, free-on-board Bangkok, but buyers bid at much lower prices.
Prices of the USS3 raw material in the three central markets of Thailand sold above THB85/kg on strong demand as daily availability was higher than 100 metric tons for the first time this week.
The benchmark May RSS3 contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange settled Y2.5 lower at Y269.6 a kilogram.
Prices had risen 7.5% in just two days, and with Malaysian and Indonesian markets closed for a public holiday, many investors thought this an opportune moment to take profits.
Prices fell to Y264.1/kg before buying led to a rebound that continued into the night session, when the May contract ended at Y272.1/kg, unchanged if compared with Thursday's day session. Night session prices aren't included in intraday trading.
"Funds liquidated their positions and took profits after agressive buying throughout this week," said a broker in Tokyo.
Buying resumed as Tocom rubber futures approached the first daily lower limit. The U.S. dollar fell below Y89 during Asian trading hours but recovered to levels above Y90. A stronger yen is negative for Tocom rubber futures, and the weakening aided rubber's rebound.
The benchmark March contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange settled 0.4% higher at CNY23,085/ton, despite a rise in inventories, due to residual bullish sentiment from China's cut in rubber import tariffs, earlier this week.
As of Thursday, rubber inventories in warehouses recognized by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 6% on week to 131,032 tons.
The benchmark July RSS3 contract on Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand, settled 1.5% higher at THB96.95/kg.
Asian physical prices were lower in thin trade as many dealers were away due to the holiday in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Traders in Thailand lowered their offers but buyers were cautious, expecting a further decline next week.
"Many importers consider current price levels too high and prefer to wait," said a Singapore-based trading executive.
USS3 material prices rose amid market talk that some importers in China made heavy purchases of TSR20 and RSS3 rubber in recent days for early 2010 shipment and that factories need to cover their raw material requirements.
Latex rubber was sold to China for mid-January shipment at $1,860/ton, free-on-board, a Thailand-based trading executive said.
(Source: irco.biz)
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