Key Tokyo rubber futures rose to a one-week high on Thursday, helped by a rise in oil prices, a weaker yen and bullish technical charts. The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for December delivery rose as high as 277 yen, the highest for any benchmark since June 29.
The contract closed at 276.3 yen per kg, up 6.2 yen or 2.3 percent from the previous close. It was the biggest one-day percentage gain in two weeks. Technically, the contract is highly likely to test last month's high of 288.6 yen in the near future after clearing several chart resistance points.
The yen fell 0.6 percent against the dollar on Thursday, improving sentiment as a weaker yen helps inflate yen-priced TOCOM prices. Japan's core machinery orders unexpectedly fell 9.1 percent in May from the previous month, suggesting corporate spending will be slow to recover. Lanxess, the world's largest maker of synthetic rubber, is comfortable with investors' bullish 2010 expectations as it passes on raw material costs to customers, buoyed by a recovery in tyre markets.