TOCOM notes rubber trading gains

Tokyo –  The Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) has issued a summary of trading activities for December 2014.

Average daily trading volume for the month was 109,689 contracts, down 17.5 percent from November. On a year-on-year basis, however, it was up 39.7 percent.

Some of TOCOM’s leading commodities saw increases in volume including rubber, which was up 8.6% to 10,572 contracts. The commodity index for rubber was also higher – up 5.7 percent on the previous month.

Crude oil trading, meanwhile, rose 30.9 percent to 7,322 contracts and others such as gold – the Exchange’s most traded commodity –  decreased 35.6 percent to 43,671 contracts and pushed down overall trading volume.

TOCOM Crude Oil traders remained bearish throughout the month on persistent fears of oversupply. IEA and OPEC reports were issued forecasting increased supply and slowing demand in 2015, which drove prices lower.

Crude oil fell to 42,530 yen per kilolitre on December 17, the lowest in over 4 years. There were some short-lived rallies on strong US economic indicators.