Tokyo futures rise to 1-wk high, track Japan stocks (June 28)

TOKYO, June 28 (Reuters) – Key TOCOM rubber futures tracked Japanese stocks higher on Thursday to mark a one-week high, though gains were capped by low expectations that a European summit will come up with anything concrete to tackle the region’s debt crisis.

FUNDAMENTALS

* The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for December delivery <0#2JRU:> had risen 6 yen, or 2.6 percent, to 241.3 yen by 0014 GMT. It earlier climbed to 241.7 yen, the highest level since Friday.

* The TOCOM market touched a 2-1/2 year low of 227.8 yen on Monday.

* German Chancellor Angela Merkel will pit herself against France and Italy on Thursday at an EU summit, insisting they put the bloc’s fundamental problems ahead of pleas for emergency action.

* China bought several cargoes of Malaysian rubber after prices plunged to their lowest in more than two years, raising hopes the world’s largest consumer will step up purchases and turn to other grades too, dealers said on Wednesday.

MARKET NEWS

* Japan’s Nikkei share average rose at Thursday’s open, supported by domestically driven stocks.

* U.S. crude gained for a third day on Thursday on positive economic data from the United States and a larger than expected fall in oil output from Norway.

DATA EVENTS

* The following data is expected on Thursday:

Two-day European Union Summit in Brussels starts

0755 Germany Unemployment rate

0900 Euro Zone Business climate

0900 Euro Zone Economic sentiment

1230 U.S. Final Q1 GDP

1430 U.S. Weekly jobless claims

(Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Joseph Radford)

Source: http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/rubber-tokyo-futures-rise-1-003430690.html