Rubber gains

Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures gained on Thursday, helped by lower yen and market talk that the state-run Rubber Estate Organisation (REO) in Thailand had bought about 400 tonnes of rubber to help support prices, dealers said. The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for April delivery finished 1.8 yen higher at 194.4 yen ($1.6957) per kg.
"A rebound in oil prices and the US dollar's gain against the yen overnight helped improve investors sentiment in early trade," a Tokyo-based trader said. The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery fell 175 yuan to finish at 12,300 yuan ($2,013) per tonne. The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for December delivery last traded at 151.5 US cents per kg, up 5.3 cent.