Asian Rubber Settles Lower But May Improve This Week

5 August 2014, 18:07 SEAST

Asian rubber settled lower Tuesday in slow trade owing to persistent weak sentiment as investors continued to seek cues to drive prices either way.

Benchmark January natural rubber futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange settled 0.8% lower at Y204.6 a kilogram. Prices may, however, improve this week owing to tight rubber supply in the second half if an El Nino occurs and as farmers have been forced by low prices this year to abandon rubber holdings to look for other jobs, International Rubber Consortium Chief Executive Yium Tavarolit said.

January Tocom rubber closed unchanged in the night session which is considered part of the next trading day.