Rubber down

Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures edged down on Wednesday, surrendering earlier gains after oil prices came under pressure and the yen rebounded against the US dollar, dealers said. The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for October delivery finished 0.5 yen, or 0.3 percent, lower at 181.2 yen ($1.67) per kg, not too far away from a one-month low of 178 yen hit in the previous session. It rose to as high as 183.7 yen in early trade on Wednesday.
"The market lost ground after oil started dropping and the yen bounced back," said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at Nissan Securities. The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for September delivery rose 30 yuan to finish at 11,875 yuan ($1,823.28) per tonne. The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for June delivery last traded at 145.7 US cents per kg, down 0.6 cent.