FUNDAMENTALS
* The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for January delivery <0#2JRU:> was down 0.5 yen at 228.8 yen per tonne as of 0015 GMT. The benchmark contract fell to as low as 227.9 yen, down 1.4 yen, or 0.6 percent.
* The Fed stopped short of offering new monetary stimulus on Wednesday even as it signaled more strongly that further bond buying could be in store to help a U.S. economic recovery that it said had lost momentum this year.
* Investors are now focusing on the policy meeting of the European Central Bank later in the day, with expectations for bold actions after the bank's president Mario Draghi pledged to do everything within the bank's mandate to hold the euro zone together.
* Tyre grades from Southeast Asia were traded at their weakest in at least four years as Tokyo futures dropped, but top consumer China could buy more cargoes to exploit the low prices, dealers said on Wednesday.
* U.S. auto sales rose a lower-than-expected 9 percent in July as high U.S. unemployment and weak consumer confidence kept would-be buyers on the sidelines.
* Brazilian auto sales set a second straight monthly record in July as tax breaks and lending incentives helped the car industry turn the corner on a weak first half.
MARKET NEWS
* U.S. crude prices steadied below $89 a barrel, while Japan's benchmark Nikkei average was almost flat at open on Thursday.
DATA EVENTS
* The following data is expected on Thursday: - 0900 EZ Producer prices June - 1100 Britain BOE Bank Rate Aug - 1145 EZ ECB rate decision Aug - 1230 EZ ECB's Mario Draghi to hold press conference - 1230 US Jobless claims Weekly - 1400 US Factory orders June - 1430 US EIA natural gas stocks Weekly - :: US ICSC chain store sales July (Reporting by Yuko Inoue; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
SOurce: Reuters
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