Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures slid to a one-week-low on Thursday, tracking losses in Shanghai futures as investors squared positions ahead of China's week-long holiday and amid concerns over trade conflicts worldwide. The Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) rubber contract for March delivery finished 1.9 yen, or 1.1 percent, lower at 167.1 yen ($1.48) per kg, after touching the lowest since September 20 of 166.3 yen earlier in the session.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery dipped 240 yuan to finish at 12,285 yuan ($1,786) per tonne. The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for October delivery last traded at 134.0 US cents per kg, up 0.1 cent.
China's financial markets will be closed on October 1-5 for the National Day holiday. US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on Wednesday to start trade talks in an arrangement that, for now, protects Japanese automakers from further tariffs, seen as a major threat to the export-dependent economy.
"But it only means that Japan gained time and does not mean that Japan has completely avoided the threat of the additional US tariffs on cars," said Satoru Yoshida, a commodity analyst with Rakuten Securities. "That's why the news did not trigger fresh buying in the TOCOM," he said. The US dollar was little changed at 112.73 yen, having slipped from a two-month peak of 113.145 brushed on Wednesday following the latest US Federal Reserve interest rate hike.
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