Tokyo rubber futures rose on Monday after a better-than-expected US jobs report eased concern over growth in the world's biggest economy, but failed to hold onto early gains that pushed the benchmark contract to the highest level in a week. The benchmark rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange for January delivery rose 1 yen, or 0.4 percent, to settle at 227.4 yen ($2.89) per kg.
Earlier in the day the contract rose 3.3 percent to 233.8 yen per kg, the highest since July 30, before retracing. The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for January delivery rose 235 yuan to finish at 22,630 yuan per tonne. The front-month September rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange was last traded at 277 US cents per kg.
"On the open some bullish buyers came into the market but the long interest started to liquidate later in the day," said a Tokyo-based trader. "There is very little demand for physical product in the market and it's hard to see it going much higher from here," the trader said, citing the dim economic outlook globally and the fact that August is typically a quiet month.