Tokyo rubber hits one-week low

Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures hit a one-week low on Thursday as the market came under pressure from weak Shanghai futures, brokers said. The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for July delivery finished 3.2 yen lower at 192.3 yen ($1.75) per kg, despite a slightly weaker yen against the dollar.
The contract earlier fell to as low as 191.8 yen, the lowest since Feb. 1, which is just above a two-month low hit on Jan. 31. The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for May delivery fell 255 yuan to finish at 12,390 yuan ($1,960) per tonne.
China's natural and synthetic rubber imports in January rose 36.7 percent from a year earlier to 697,000 tonnes, preliminary trade data showed on Thursday. The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for March delivery last traded at 143 US cents per kg, down 3.6 cents.