Tokyo rubber futures rose on Friday as the market continued to look at the possibility of topping a key resistance level.
The benchmark July 2004 rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange settled up 2.4 yen per kg at 149.7 yen, a session high.
Other months rose by 1.6 yen to 2.0 yen. "The February contract will expire on Monday and it will be interesting to see if it expires above today's settlement price of 137.1 yen," a broker said.
"A higher expiry could help lift (the July contract) above 150 yen," he said.
Rubber has marked strong gains this week, although it has not been able to rally enough to break through the technically important 150 yen level.
Turnover in TOCOM rubber was estimated at 7,609 lots, compared with 6,397 lots on Thursday and 8,737 lots on Wednesday.
Open interest stood at 54,126 lots as of the end of Thursday, versus 54,498 lots on Wednesday and 54,546 lots on Tuesday.