Tokyo rubber futures rose above 320 yen a kg for the first time since late February on Friday amid supply worries in Thailand, the world's top producer, and falling warehouse stocks in China, the world's No 1 consumer. Rubber warehouse inventories on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 35,260 tonnes by Thursday, down 3,765 tonnes or 9.6 percent from 39,025 tonnes on May 8.
Buying by investment funds has been intensifying since Shanghai stocks dipped below the 40,000-tonne level last week, Tokyo traders said. The benchmark Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for October delivery closed at 318.0 yen a kg, up 1.3 yen or 0.4 percent from Thursday's close.
It hit a session high of 320.6 yen - the highest for a benchmark since February 26, when it reached a 20-month high of 324.3 yen. The front-month May rubber contract closed at 318.4 yen, up 1.7 yen from Thursday.On the charts, distant TOCOM rubber has closed above its five-day moving average for 14 consecutive sessions.