TOCOM Gold

Prices of TOCOM gold futures rose last week and got back strongly over the 4000 yen per gram mark. The most actively traded forward contract gained 128 yen or about 3.2% for the week and closed Friday’s day trading session at 4128 yen. Gold regained some of its safe-haven status as some investors bought gold before the upcoming Greek election and concerns about Spanish and Italian debt levels rattled markets again and the U.S. dollar spot price of gold rose back over $1600 dollar per ounce. Another factor pushing gold prices higher last week was speculation by some traders that central banks might take further monetary easing steps to counter slowing economic growth and tightening credit markets in Europe. There were also reports that demand for physical gold picked up in some European and Asian markets. According to some analysts, resistance remains strong at $1640 per ounce for the U.S. dollar spot price and prices will have to rise above this level to rally further. Traders in Tokyo were mostly quiet last week and sat on the sidelines to see how things develop in Europe as volume for TOCOM gold contracts was quite low and open interest decreased by about 2,500 contracts and stood at 134,491 as of last Friday.

 

TOCOM Gold Daily Chart – Forward Contract (as of June 15)

TOCOM Gold Forward Contract Weekly Trading Data

Date	Open	High	Low	Close	Change	Volume	Open Interest
June 15	4140	4157	4107	4128	-15	31194	134491
June 14	4134	4157	4120	4143	16	28701	135620
June 13	4078	4139	4063	4127	52	29919	136130
June 12	4089	4098	4049	4075	-26	29717	136055
June 11	4008	4116	3992	4101	101	40872	136493

 

TOCOM Platinum

TOCOM platinum futures prices clocked strong gains last week as prices rose on 4 out of 5 trading days last week. The most actively traded forward contract gained 176 yen or about 4.8% for the week and closed last Friday’s day trading session at 3817 yen per gram. The U.S. dollar spot price also rose last week in unison with higher gold prices and expectations of production cuts by mining companies. There was news released in   South Africa last week that some major mining companies were planning to shut down some of their mines and scale back some mining projects and investments due to low market prices in recent months and spiraling input costs. Many projects have become unprofitable due to market conditions and the supply of platinum is expected to remain in surplus over the next few years. These factors have triggered the decision by some mining companies to cut production. Rising labor costs, higher taxes and electricity costs, tighter safety regulations and labor strife have all contributed to higher production costs of platinum in South Africa. South Africa is the world’s largest producer of platinum. Prices of platinum have fallen by around 40% from the high reached in 2007. One other bit of news last week that was attributed to higher prices of platinum last week by some analysts was a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) that said diesel exhaust fumes are a carcinogenic and are linked to lung cancer and higher risks for bladder cancer. This report could lead to stricter standards for emissions from diesel engines which could increase the demand for platinum in diesel engine exhaust systems. Trading volume for TOCOM platinum futures contracts was moderately low last week and open interest fell slightly.

 

TOCOM Platinum Daily Chart – Forward Contract (as of June 15)

 

TOCOM Platinum Forward Contract Weekly Trading Data

Date	Open	High	Low	Close	Change	Volume	Open Interest
June   15	3810	3852	3776	3817	13	13799	45124
June 14	3741	3813	3725	3804	58	13334	45464
June 13	3690	3748	3674	3746	64	9785	46064
June 12	3717	3738	3642	3682	-53	10038	46920
June 11	3630	3752	3619	3735	94	11659	46259

 

TOCOM Rubber

The most actively traded benchmark TOCOM rubber futures forward contract managed a weekly gain last week for the first time in over a month. The forward contract gained 9 yen or about 3.8% for the week and closed Friday’s day trading session at 246.9 yen per kilo. After hitting a two and a half month low the previous week, prices recovered last week as some traders saw the market as being oversold after the large sell-off over the past few months. However, slowing growth in China and debt problems in Europe continue to cast a pall over rubber markets as some traders and analysts alike see demand for natural rubber remaining tepid over the next few months. Despite governments in SE Asia rubber producing countries promising to support rubber prices by buying physical rubber on the open market and futures contracts on commodity exchanges in Asia, market participants remained focused on sovereign debt and banking problems in Europe and slackening demand from China. Traders will be watching next week to see whether prices can break through resistance at the 250 yen level with support levels being the recent low of 232.2 yen. However, global macro-economic factors will continue to carry the most weight for market participants in the near term as there remains a lot of uncertainty in the market on demand for natural rubber in the coming months.

 

TOCOM Rubber Daily Chart – Forward Contract (as of June 15)

 

TOCOM Rubber Forward Contract Weekly Trading Data

Date	Open	High	Low	Close	Change	Volume	Open Interest
June 15	244.0	248.4	242.7	246.9	3.2	6068	23049
June 14	243.7	247.4	240.2	243.7	0.9	5912	23092
June 13	239.3	243.3	239.0	242.8	3.5	3532	23613
June 12	242.4	244.5	235.5	239.3	-5.3	6170	23583
June 11	234.8	246.4	232.2	244.6	6.7	8076	23967

 

Exchange and Industry News

No news this week.

 

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.