Osaka Mercantile Exchange Weekly RSS3 Futures/Rubber Index Futures Report

RSS3 Futures: Distant month: opening 77.7 yen, a high 77.9 yen (Jul.5), low 72.5 yen (Jul. 8), closing 74.7 yen. Index Futures: Distant month: opening 72.20, a high 72.40 (Jul.5), a low 67.70 (Jul. 8), closing 68.70 points. On July 5, the news that the Chinese government would issue the rubber import licenses for 100,000 tons was reported. (It was reported to be 80,000 tons last week.) However, Chinese traders and consumers had already bought about 50,000 tons out of 100,000 tons of rubber, and it was said that those licenses for the rest would be issued gradually by the end of 1999. Lacking in the immediate impact, the prices descended to 67.2 yen in spot month and to 77.0 yen in distant month on disappointed selling. Later, the downward drift was accelerated on stop loss selling due to mounting stocks in Japan and to the lower prices in the producing areas: INRO and Thai government had been unable to shore up the sagging prices, a trader said. On July 8, the prices sunk to the all-time-lows since the opening of RSS3 futures, at 62.0 yen in spot month and at 72.5 yen in distant month. This week's total volume in RSS3 futures market was 32,733 lots, and it was 45,536 lots in index futures market.