20 Feb 2024
Chinese markets were closed during the trading week due to lunar new year holidays
Tokyo – Natural rubber (NR) futures closed the trading week ended 16 Feb higher on both OSE and SGX, with Chinese markets closed for the lunar new year.
In Japan, OSE rubber futures surged 6.5% amid “thin market liquidity”, Japan Exchange Group reported 19 Feb.
This, it said, was driven by “speculative buying, a domestic stock market rally, and a weaker Japanese yen.”
Meanwhile, in Singapore, SGX SICOM rubber rose 0.7% in quiet trading, but sentiment remained steady, supported by higher RSS3 prices.
According to JPX, Japanese stocks rallied strongly during the week, as foreign investors increased holdings in anticipation of improved earnings from Japanese companies.
In rubber-related updates, Thailand's leading producer, Sri Trang incurred a loss of THB 422 million (€10.8 million) due to subdued rubber demand and an oversupply in the glove business.
Japan's Bridgestone missed its forecast for FY net income, reporting Yen359 billion (€2.2 billion) against the expected Yen386.6 billion.
The Japanese tire maker has cited “a challenging business environment” for the weak performance.
In automotive news, Volkswagen has announced plans to invest $1 billion (€920 million) in its Mexican operations to enhance EV business.
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