Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures surged to a one-month high on Monday, following a jump in Shanghai futures which were boosted by a flurry of buys from local brokerages and plans by top rubber producers in Asia to boost prices, dealers said. The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for October delivery finished 7.4 yen, or 3.6 percent, higher at 213.4 yen ($1.79) per kg.
It earlier climbed as high as 213.5 yen, the highest since March 27, and marked its biggest daily percentage gain since December 30, 2014.
"We heard that here were buys from local securities brokers as they looked for bargain-hunting opportunities as they saw Shanghai equities prices have become too expensive," said Jiong Gu, analyst at Yutaka Shoji Co.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for September delivery rose 800 yuan to finish at 14,195 yuan ($2,282.70) per tonne.
"The TOCOM just followed the gains in Shanghai," Gu added.
Behind the surge was also investors hope for producing countries' effort to support prices, dealers said.
Sri Trang Agro-Industry and other leading rubber producers in Asia plan to raise prices sharply, ditching a system of pegging them near the benchmark set by the SICOM exchange in Singapore.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for May delivery last traded at 144.1 US cents per kg, up 3.3 cent.