June-delivery rubber climbed as much as 2.3 percent to 450.2 yen a kilogram ($5,409 a metric ton) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange before settling at 449.1 yen. A rally in crude oil also increased the appeal of natural rubber as an alternative to synthetic products made from petroleum.
Japanese stocks advanced, extending a global rally, as a weaker yen boosted the outlook for export earnings. The yen fell against the euro after Japan’s pledge to help ease the debt crisis that forced Ireland and Greece to seek bailouts.
“Despite high prices, buyers both from China and Japan accelerated purchases ahead of the low-production period to ensure adequate supplies,” Sureerat Kunthongjun, an analyst at Agrow Enterprise Ltd., said by phone from Bangkok. Robust car sales are also supportive, she said.
Rubber has increased 8.4 percent this month, extending last year’s 50 percent rally, ahead of the low-production period that starts in Thailand next month and may worsen a shortage amid rising demand led by China and India.
“The market gained as concern about the European debt crisis eased, boosting investor appetite for riskier assets,” Hisaaki Tasaka, analyst at Tokyo-based broker ACE Koeki Co., said today by phone. “Rubber is also supported by strong fundamentals as supply lags behind China-led demand.”
China Cars
China’s passenger-vehicle sales surged 33 percent in 2010, as government stimulus measures and economic growth helped the nation remain the world’s largest auto market for a second year. Annual vehicle sales surged about 10-fold in the past decade on rising affluence and government stimulus programs.
Passenger-car sales in India may increase 18 percent this year, Pawan Goenka, head of theSociety of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, told reporters in Mumbai yesterday. Shipments jumped 31 percent to 1.87 million last year, according to the group, which represents all automakers in the country.
Natural-rubber production in Thailand during the leaf- shedding season, from the end of February until May, shrinks 45 to 60 percent from peak production, the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries said in December.
The Thai cash price climbed to a record 163.05 baht ($5.30) per kilogram today, as supplies remain tight amid strong demand, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.
May-delivery rubber in Shanghai gained as much as 2.4 percent to 38,560 yuan ($5,832) a ton before closing at 38,280 yuan. The price reached a record 38,920 yuan on Nov. 11.
Oil traded near a one-week high in New York after surging 2.1 percent yesterday as a presidential panel investigating the BP Plc spill in the Gulf of Mexico called for “urgent reform” and a pipeline closure in Alaska threatened refiners’ supplies.
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