Rubber futures prices dip amid pick-up in trading activity

Tokyo – Natural rubber (NR) futures ended the trading week to 22 March in generally negative territory on Far East exchanges, Japan Exchange Group (JPX) has reported.

The decline was particularly sharp on the Osaka Exchange (OSE) in Japan, with NR down 7% on the prior-week closing level, due to “long liquidation and profit-taking.”

In Singapore, NR future prices fell 2.5% week-on-week driven by profit-taking on the SICOM exchange, according to the JPX review issued 25 March. 

The commodity fared better in China, with NR pricing  edging up 0.4% on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, while holding steady on the INE exchange, continued the report.

Except for the OSE, which had a national holiday on 20 March, other exchanges witnessed “a substantial surge in trading volume,” JPX went on to note.

The trend indicated "active market participation" despite the overall downward movement in prices, the trading analyst commented.

In related news, China's total vehicle sales in February slipped 35% month-on-month and 20% year-on-year to just under 1.6 million units.

The decline was linked primarily to the Lunar New Year holidays, and sales are expected to recover in March, according to JPX.