Rubber hits five-year low

Tokyo rubber futures hit a fresh 5-year low on Wednesday on persistent fears of weak demand from China and falling oil prices, dealers said. The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for February delivery slipped 0.1 yen to settle at 183.4 yen per kg. It fell to an intra-day low of 180.7 yen, the lowest since July 2009.
Dealers said TOCOM briefly found support from the Thai government's effort to stop prices from falling further by postponing the sale of its remaining 100,000 tonnes of rubber stocks. The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery ended flat at 12,275 yuan per tonne. The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for October delivery was last traded at 144.5 US cents per kg, down 0.3 cent.