Key Tokyo rubber futures ended almost flat on Wednesday, the year's first day of trading, after opening higher as speculators remained cautious about the global economic outlook, putting downward pressure on the Shanghai market. The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for June delivery settled up 0.9 percent or 2.3 yen at 265.7 yen per kg, after rising 3.1 percent to 271.6 yen.
The most active Shanghai rubber contract for May delivery fell 2.1 percent to close at 23,655 yuan ($3,800) per tonne. Volume stood at 1.04 million lots. "Some speculators in China are still in a selling mode, sceptical about prospects for the global economy," said Naoki Asami, chief broker at trading house Katetsu. "We expect the market to move within a narrow range of 260-280 yen for a while." The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) said on Wednesday that global natural rubber production is expected to rise by 3.1 percent to 10.415 million tonnes in 2012, little changed from the previous forecast of a 3.6 percent rise made in November.
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