Rubber rose nearly to its highest level in a week when demand for yen based futures increase as the yen devalued against the dollar to the lowest point in four months due to the prospect of added stimulus by the Bank of Japan.
Rubber to be delivered in April climbed 0.7 percent on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at 260 yen per kilogramme ($2,574 a metric ton), the highest it has been since 18th November as futures trimmed their weekly losses 0.8 percent
The yen has entered a course of weekly losses set to run the longest since February as it fell to 101.35 per dollar. The BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, however, has said today that he does not consider the yes to be particularly weak, and that the bank will do whatever it can to prevent long-term profit gains.
Investors anticipate that the BOJ will add stimulus to maintain growth and hit its inflation goal, leading them to sell off the yen and buy Tokyo futures instead.
May delivery rubber on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slid 0.5 percent to close at 19,095 yuan ($3,134) a ton. Thai rubber free-on-board gained 0.3 percent to 78.85 baht ($2.48) a kilogram today, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.
