* The benchmark TOCOM rubber contract for December delivery

rose 0.5% to 185.1 yen ($1.72) per kg.

* The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for September delivery closed up around 1% at 10,685 yuan ($1,554.95) per tonne.

* "U.S. auto sales went up in June, and we're still seeing some short-covering," said a Singapore-based trader.

* Japan's exports to the United States rose 4.8% in the year to June, up for the ninth straight month, driven by semiconductor-making equipment and cars, trade data on Thursday showed.

* The U.S. dollar was last quoted at 107.65 yen, compared with 107.29 on Wednesday.

* Oil prices rose on Friday as tensions brewed again in the Middle East after a U.S. Navy ship destroyed an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz, a major chokepoint for global crude flows.

* Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average rose 2%.

* TOCOM's technically specified rubber (TSR) 20 futures contract for January delivery was at 153.1 yen per kg.

* The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for August delivery last traded at 142 U.S. cents per kg, up 0.6%.