TOCOM Gold

Last week prices of TOCOM gold futures fell along with most commodities in Japan and around the globe. The most actively traded TOCOM gold futures forward contract fell by 77 yen per gram or about 1.9% and closed last Friday’s day trading session at 4051 yen. Fresh worries of global deflation caused some traders and investors to sell commodities last week as economic data recently released in the U.S. showed lackluster growth and most of the news out of Europe has not given markets any confidence that the debt crisis there is anywhere near being resolved. The previous week global prices of gold had rallied including TOCOM gold futures as the market was anticipating a possible announcement by the U.S. Federal Reserve that they would begin a new round of quantitative easing (QE) to try and jumpstart the economy. However, the Fed did not announce a new QE program at the conclusion of their meetings last week and global commodity markets sold off. Losses were not as bad as the U.S. dollar spot rate because the yen weakened against the U.S. dollar last week which did lend some support to prices in Tokyo. Reports out of India have indicated that physical demand for gold has been subdued there due to a weak rupee which has caused gold to hit all-time highs in the local currency and also due to the lack of any major festivals during the current season. Trading volume of TOCOM gold futures was very low early before picking up some on Thursday and Friday. Open interest decreased slightly and stood at 132,476 open contracts last Friday.

TOCOM Gold Daily Chart – Forward Contract (as of June 22)

 

TOCOM Gold Forward Contract Weekly Trading Data

Date	Open	High	Low	Close	Change	Volume	Open Interest
June 22	4097	4123	4031	4051	-54	54465	132476
June 21	4104	4155	4070	4105	-13	44440	131682
June 20	4141	4148	4111	4118	-26	23044	131798
June 19	4133	4149	4100	4144	7	28096	132340
June 18	4128	4158	4102	4137	9	33133	132681

 

TOCOM Platinum

TOCOM platinum futures prices fell last week as concerns of slowing global growth continues to permeate markets. China, the U.S. and Europe have all released economic data showing slowing growth and outright contraction in some areas of Europe. Automobile and truck sales in Asia and Europe have slowed due to higher interest rates and gasoline prices in Asia and sovereign debt problems and high unemployment in Europe which has caused many consumers to shy away from new purchases. News that Chinese factory output decreased for eight consecutive months has put pressure on industrial metals including platinum group metals. An expected global supply surplus of platinum again this year has also caused prices to fall. In addition to a supply glut, rising input costs for mining companies in South Africa which is the world’s largest platinum producer has continued to cause mining companies there to close or scale back mining operations in recent months. This could eventually bring supply and demand back into balance but many analysts expect that prices will continue to be pressured in the near term. In Japan, demographics, continuing deflation and a strong yen has hurt automobile sales and industrial output and these factors have contributed to lower prices of TOCOM platinum futures. Last week, the most actively traded forward platinum futures contract on TOCOM decreased by 109 yen or about 2.9%. Trading volume was moderately low and open interest was little changed. The forward contract closed last Friday’s day trading session at 3,708 per gram after getting as low as 3692 yen during Friday’s trading.

TOCOM Platinum Daily Chart – Forward Contract (as of June 22)

 

TOCOM Platinum Forward Contract Weekly Trading Data

Date	Open	High	Low	Close	Change	Volume	Open Interest
June   22	3746	3791	3692	3708	-54	11087	45426
June 21	3779	3844	3717	3762	-27	12497	44944
June 20	3800	3817	3782	3789	-15	6933	45090
June 19	3833	3833	3782	3804	-32	8928	45662
June 18	3821	3863	3775	3836	19	12613	45198

 

TOCOM Rubber

Prices of TOCOM rubber futures collapsed at the end of last week and hit a two and a half year low of 231.3 yen per kilo on Friday before closing the day trading session at 231.6 yen. The benchmark forward contract dropped 15.3 yen or about 6.2% for the week. Trading volume was moderate and open interest dropped slightly to stand at 22,207 open contracts as of last Friday. The forward contract rallied last Monday after results of the Greek election bolstered global markets but that rally proved to be short lived. Some analysts and traders have become bearish on natural rubber prices as rubber stock levels remain at high levels in China and Japan and large buying interest has reportedly yet to appear in South East Asian physical rubber markets in spite of the recent lower prices. Slowing automobile and truck demand in Asia and Europe coupled with concerns of economic contraction in China have pressured prices of natural rubber and after the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank decided not to take large steps to further ease monetary policy rubber prices sank lower along with other markets. The Thai government has said that they would buy physical rubber in the open market to help support price of natural rubber but reports out of Thailand have said that the government has yet to start large scale buying which disappointed some market participants who were hoping that this would help to support prices in a weak market.

TOCOM Rubber Daily Chart – Forward Contract (as of June 22)

 

TOCOM Rubber Forward Contract Weekly Trading Data

Date	Open	High	Low	Close	Change	Volume	Open Interest
June 22	242.8	244.8	231.3	231.6	-12.2	6967	22207
June 21	250.4	251.6	243.2	243.8	-8.7	6645	22258
June 20	249.3	253.4	248.3	252.5	1.4	5462	22020
June 19	254.9	255.5	251.1	251.1	-4.4	4284	22480
June 18	248.7	257.4	248.1	255.5	8.6	6544	22481

 

Exchange and Industry News

 

Tax Treatment of Foreign Based Users of TOCOM Proximity Services

TOCOM has released news on the tax treatment of users of TOCOM proximity services. Click on the link for details.  http://www.tocom.or.jp/news/2012/20120620Proximity.html

 

FIA Japan Conference to be Held in Tokyo July 25-26

Dot Commodity will be one of the host sponsors of the upcoming FIA Japan Conference that will be held at the Palace Hotel in Tokyo from July 25^th to July 26^th 2012. For conference information and to register please click on the links below.

http://www.tocom.or.jp/news/2012/documents/FIAJ_Conference2012e.pdf

http://www.futuresindustry.org/japan-conference.asp

 

Disclaimer:

This market review and news report contains information and data from sources believed to be reliable and accurate as of the date of publication but has not been independently verified. This report is for informational purposes only and no employee, director or connected person to Dot Commodity, Inc. takes any responsibility for the information or correctness of the content contained in the report. Dot Commodity, Inc. is strictly an online commodity futures broker and does not give any trading recommendations or financial advice to any of its clients, perspective clients or readers of this report. No part of this market review & news report is to be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any commodity futures or financial contract or product of any kind.