Tokyo rubber futures finished slightly higher on Tuesday after thin, narrow-range trading, with operators reluctant to take fresh positions before the spot contract expiry later this week. The benchmark September rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange settled up 0.1 yen per kg at 141.0, after trading between 140.4 and 142.0. Other months were 0.1 to 0.5 yen higher at the close.
Last month, TOCOM's spot March contract expired at 136.0 yen, down 1.7 yen from the previous day, with 149 lots or 1,490 tonnes of physical deliveries. Delivery this month was expected to be much smaller than last month, as only 36 lots of rubber are under TOCOM's quality inspection ahead of the expiry, the broker said.