Tokyo rubber futures inched up on Tuesday, extending gains to a second straight day on light short-covering and position squaring ahead of this week's expiry of the prompt futures contract.
The benchmark August 2004 rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange settled up 1.4 yen per kg at 156.0 yen after trading as high as 156.6 yen.
Other months rose by 0.6 to 2.3 yen.
"There's a reluctance to move actively ahead of (Thursday's) expiry (of the March contract)," one analyst said.
The widely held view in the market was that the March contract, which rose 2.3 yen to close at 142.4 yen on Tuesday, would expire at around the 140-yen level barring any major development, he said.
"I don't think anybody's expecting much surprise," he said.
Turnover in TOCOM rubber was estimated at 6,758 lots, the lowest in days, compared with 7,226 lots on Monday and 12,130 lots on Friday.
Traders are expecting the market to remain thin until the March contract expires.
Open interest stood at 53,445 lots as of the end of Monday, versus 54,138 lots on Friday and 55,452 lots on Thursday.