Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures ended up 2.4 percent to settle at a 7-1/2 month high on Thursday, with the yen's slide to near a five-week low against the dollar spurring buying interest. The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for July delivery finished 5.1 yen higher at 217.5 yen per kg. The benchmark contract hit an intraday high of 218.3 shortly before the close, the best since June 27, 2014.
TOCOM was closed on Wednesday due to a national holiday. The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for May delivery ended unchanged at 13,620 yuan per tonne. The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for March delivery last traded at 140 US cents per kg, down 0.2 cent.