Tokyo, Shanghai rubber rise

Key Tokyo rubber futures settled slightly higher in thin trade on Monday as lingering worries about the health of the US economy kept investors on the sidelines despite a fall in the yen and higher oil prices after Washington reached a last-minute deal to escape default. The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for January delivery settled up 3.2 yen, or 0.8 percent, at 389.7 yen per kg.
The most active Shanghai rubber contract for January delivery rose 2.1 percent to close at 36,190 yuan per tonne. Volume stood at 452,436 lots. Trading remained in a 380-400 yen range seen in the past week although US policymakers reached a deal to cut the budget deficit by $1 trillion over 10 years after a tense weekend in which rival plans to lift the US borrowing limit were shot down in Congress. "Investors seemed to stay on the sidelines due to lingering concerns about US and European sovereign debt problems, while prospects of steady supply from producing countries weighed on the market," said a trader.