Rubber flat

Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures ended flat on Thursday after profit-taking by day-traders erased early gains which were triggered by a rally in oil prices and a sharp increase in Japanese equities, dealers said. The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for July delivery finished unchanged at 152.6 yen ($1.34) per kg, after earlier rising as high as 155.3 yen.
"The prices rose at open on higher oil prices and a jump in Nikkei, but they surrendered gains as profit-taking emerged in late trade," a Tokyo-based dealer who declined to be named said. The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for May delivery fell 20 yuan to finish at 10,470 yuan ($1,607.18) per tonne. The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for March delivery last traded at 108.2 US cents per kg, up 0.4 cent. "The market was very quiet and most of the trades were done by day-traders," the dealer said.