Rubber futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange mostly stayed flat on Tuesday as traders struggled to find direction in the absence of fresh news.
The benchmark September 2004 rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange settled unchanged at 161.4 yen per kg, while three other contracts also ended flat.
The exceptions were the April 2004 contract, which finished up 0.2 yen, and the August contract, which ended up 0.1 yen.
"The market's trying to find some direction. But there's very little that's new now," a Tokyo broker said. He said that in the medium to long term, the market could come under pressure with the end of the dry wintering season in the main producing areas of Thailand and Indonesia.
The end of the dry wintering season, which marks the recovery of output, typically comes around mid-April.
Turnover in TOCOM rubber was estimated at a thin 6,636 lots, compared with 7,542 lots on Monday and 8,842 lots on Friday.
Open interest stood at 48,653 lots as of the end of Monday, versus 48,933 lots on Friday and 49,662 lots on Thursday.