Tokyo rubber futures ended little changed on Tuesday as support from an easing Japanese yen was limited by profit taking. The benchmark rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange for January delivery fell 0.3 yen to settle at 237.9 yen ($2.07) per kg.
Other contracts rose between 0.3 and 1.9 yen. Profit takers came forward after prices rose 2 percent on Monday, but TOCOM prices remained technically supported by an easing yen, which fuelled speculative buying.
The yen dipped against the dollar, moving around 114.69/72 per dollar, from around 114.75 yen in trade, but remained off 14-month high of 111.60 it hit on Friday.
A lower yen pushes up the prices of dollar-based commodities, including rubber, and encourages investors to take speculative yen-based TOCOM rubber. TOCOM's technical sentiment remained bearish, with the benchmark contract below key moving averages.
Key TOCOM rubber was about 2 percent below its nearest key moving average, the seven-day average of 242.2 yen.
It was also about 8 percent below the 200-day average of 259.1 yen. Physical rubber was quoted lower on Tuesday despite the small gains on TOCOM. Trading was thin with buyers on the sidelines after prices rose in line with TOCOM's 2 percent jump on Monday, traders said.
"Buyers are holding orders back, waiting to buy when prices drop," one said. However, physical prices were unlikely to fall significantly as demand remained strong and rain in Thailand, the world biggest rubber producer, was expected to trim supply this week, traders said. Monsoon rains hit Thailand's Andean coastal areas, one of the main rubber growing areas, causing floods and disrupting tapping.
But supply was not expected to fall sharply as there was no rain on the Gulf of Thailand coast, another major rubber growing area, allowing farmers to tap as usual, traders said.
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