Tokyo Futures Rise On Bullish Technicals

Key Tokyo rubber futures rose on Friday (February 18) and hovered near a record high hit the day before, on a bullish technical outlook due to supply concerns.
The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for July delivery rose as hich as 2 yen or 0.4 percent to 530.4 yen per kg as of 0016 GMT, just shy of a record high 530.6 yen hit the previous day.
The most active Shanghai rubber futures for May delivery closed down 1.3 percent at 41,305 yuan per tonne. Volume was flat at 616,396 lots. The contract hit a record high of 43,500 yuan last week.
U.S. crude futures inched up on Friday (February 18), adding to a sharp gain the day before when Egypt-style protests in oil-producing regions kept the potential for supply disruption in focus and traders moved to narrow the record deficit to Brent crude.
The Swiss franc held on to gains early in Asia on Friday (February 18), having powered higher on mounting Middle East tensions, while the Australian dollar lost a bit of steam as it reached the top end of its range.
(Reuters, February 18, 2011)