Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures gave up early gains and ended lower on Monday, while the Shanghai market fell more than 4 percent on concerns over high inventory and economic growth in main consumer China. The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for August delivery hit a high of 244.8 yen a kg, its strongest since January 24. It settled at 234.3 yen, down 5.9 yen or 2.5 percent.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for September delivery slipped more than 4 percent to an intraday low of 14,910 yuan a tonne. The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for April delivery last traded at 194.00 US cents per kg, down 6.60 cents.