Tokyo rubber futures fell on Tuesday, extending losses into a third day in a truncated trading session, as a rising yen hurt sentiment while declines in global stock markets prompted profit-taking. A systems fault at the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Japan's biggest commodity exchange, halted trading for more than three hours, before resuming at 0600 GMT.
It is the first glitch since the exchange launched a new trading platform on May 7, which saw it extend trading hours and introduce a circuit breaker system in an attempt to lure back investors and restore the market's shrinking liquidity.
TOCOM is still investigating the cause of the glitch, and while it ended the shortened day session at 0630 GMT, as usual, the exchange had not decided whether to reopen for a scheduled night session on Tuesday. Evening trading of rubber futures is between 0800 GMT and 1000 GMT.
The key rubber contract for October delivery ended the day session down 4.7 yen or 2.7 percent at 168.3 yen per kg. There were no big price changes after trading resumed, compared to before activity was suspended. It earlier touched a low of 165.3 yen, the lowest level since May 1.
Relative stability in currency and other commodities markets helped minimise volatility on TOCOM trading, said Shuji Sugata, a manager in the research team at Mitusibshi Corp Futures & Securities. "If other markets, like currency and dollar-denominated assets were moving, the TOCOM's suspension could have triggered confusion and boosted volatility," he said.
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