Tokyo rubber futures dropped to their weakest since the middle of April on Friday, notching a fourth straight week of losses as the yen gained against the US dollar and the Shanghai market hit a contract low on worries about the economy. The most-active November contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange hit a low of 243 yen per kg before settling at 246.0 yen, down 1.7 yen. The yen-denominated Tokyo futures have slipped more than 18 percent so far this year.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for September delivery was last traded at 18,330 yuan a tonne, versus 18,530 yuan at the previous close. The September futures earlier touched a contract low at 18,175 yuan. Rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.1 percent from last Friday to 114,324 tonnes, within sight of their highest in three years. The front-month July contract on Singapore's SICOM Exchange was last traded at 236.50 US cents per kg, down 4 cents.