Rubber gained, trading near a five- month high, as a weaker Japanese currency raised the appeal of yen-based contracts and after shippers in Thailand, the largest producer, raised cash prices for foreign buyers. The March-delivery contract gained as much as 0.6 percent to 317.4 yen per kilogram ($3,803 a metric ton) before trading at 316.1 yen on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at 11:27 a.m. The price reached 318.2 yen yesterday, the highest level for a most- active contract since April 26. The yen weakened for a second day against the dollar before the Bank of Japan ends a two-day policy meeting today at which economists say it will announce more credit-easing measures. Thai exporters have raised offers for so-called RSS-3 grade rubber for November shipment to about $3.65 a kilogram, from $3.60 at the end of last week, said Shuji Sugata, research manager at Mitsubishi Corp. Futures Ltd. “Cash prices gained on strong demand from tire makers, buoying the futures market,” Sugata said by phone today. “A weaker yen gave more support to futures.” The yen declined to 83.47 per dollar as of 11:29 a.m. in Tokyo, from 83.36 in New York yesterday, after strengthening to 83.16 on Oct. 1, the highest since Sept. 15. The Bank of Japan is expected to increase its 30 trillion yen ($359 billion) credit program for banks to encourage lending when its meeting concludes today, according to 14 of 17 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. One forecast the bank will cut the overnight loan rate to zero from 0.1 percent and buy more government bonds. Auto Sales U.S. auto sales in September rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 11.8 million, compared with 9.4 million a year earlier, data from New Jersey-based researcher Autodata Corp. showed on Oct. 1. September’s stronger sales, bolstered by Ford Motor Co.’s 41 percent sales gain, are a sign that the car market may have bottomed out and that a slow, stable recovery is under way, said Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends for Santa Monica, California-based TrueCar.com. The benchmark Thai rubber price gained 2.6 percent to 110.4 baht ($3.66) a kilogram yesterday, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand. The Shanghai rubber market is closed as China celebrates National Day holidays from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7. Natural rubber inventories monitored by the bourse expanded 4,680 tons to 31,580 tons, based on a survey of 10 warehouses in Shanghai, Shandong, Yunnan, Hainan and Tianjin, the exchange said Sept. 30. To contact the reporter on this story: Aya Takada in Tokyo at atakada2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

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