TOCOM falls on sharp sell-off in Shanghai futures

TOKYO:* Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures fell on Friday, weighed down by a sharp sell-off in Shanghai futures, leading to a third straight weekly loss.

* The benchmark TOCOM rubber contract for December delivery

finished 1.1 yen, or 0.6%, lower at 193.5 yen ($1.80) per kg. It marked a 3.2% loss for the week and a 0.4% drop for the month.

* The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for September delivery plunged 290 yuan to finish at 11,355 yuan ($1,654) per tonne.

* Rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 2.3% from last Friday, the exchange said on Friday.

* “A stronger yen against the U.S. dollar and weaker global demand should have sent the Tokyo prices even lower, but unusual backwardation in the TOCOM due to high physical prices in Thailand lent support,” a Tokyo-based dealer said.

* The U.S. dollar was quoted around 107.64 yen, compared with around 108.05 yen on Thursday afternoon

* Oil prices eased on Friday as traders awaited any update on the Sino-U.S. trade war from a scheduled weekend meeting of the two countries’ presidents at the G20, and eyed next week’s OPEC gathering.

* Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock average fell on Friday as investors turned cautious ahead of the meeting between President Trump and President Xi Jinping, with cyclical shares retreating before the weekend.

* TOCOM’s technically specified rubber (TSR) 20 futures contract for December delivery closed down 1.9% at 157.0 yen per kg

* The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for July delivery last traded at 150.2 U.S. cents per kg, down 0.1%.