Tokyo rubber futures sank on Tuesday in a technical correction, after prices inched up at the end of last year in light short-covering in the absence of fresh news.
The benchmark June 2004 rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) settled down 3.5 yen per kg at 141.5 yen.
"I think we are mostly seeing a reaction to the rise marked at the end of last year," a Japanese broker said.
He said the rubber market usually wavers narrowly until after the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, which starts on January 22 this year.
Other months fell by 4.0 to 5.0 yen.
The dollar was fetching 106.11/16 yen at 0630 GMT.
Turnover in TOCOM rubber was estimated at 16,703 lots, compared with 4,758 lots on Monday, TOCOM's first business day of the year, which was a half-day session.
Open interest stood at 65,104 lots as of the end of Monday, versus 65,467 lots on December 26 and 66,156 lots on December 25.