Rubber advances on China inflation data

Rubber gained for a fifth day as January inflation in China, the world’s largest buyer, rose less than economists estimated, and crude oil prices gained. The July-delivery contract gained 0.2 per cent at ¥519.5 a kilogram ($6,238 a metric tonne) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at 11:51 am local time after falling as much as 0.6 per cent earlier today. The most-active contract reached an all-time high of ¥522.5 in an after-hours trading yesterday.

Consumer prices in China rose 4.9 per cent last month from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said in a statement on its website today. That compared with a 4.6 per cent gain in December and the median forecast of 5.4 per cent in a Bloomberg News survey of 27 economists. Producer-price inflation accelerated to 6.6 per cent from 5.9 per cent in December. Rubber has rallied 25 percent this year, extending last year’s 50 per cent advance, as rising car sales led by China and India boosted demand for tires. In Shanghai, May-delivery rubber fell as much as 1.6 per cent to 42,180 yuan ($6,398) a metric tonne before trading at 42,725 yuan at 10:53 am local time. The contract reached a record 43,500 yuan on February 9.