Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures ended down 2.3% after touching a one-month low earlier, as the market came under pressure from weak Shanghai futures and sluggish oil prices.
Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures, which set the tone for tyre rubber prices in Southeast Asia, have fallen 25% so far this year amid rising inventories and worries over slowing demand by top consumer China.
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for June delivery <0#2JRU:> finished 3.7 yen lower at 160 yen per kg. The contract earlier touched 159.7 yen, the lowest since Nov 26.
"Basically the market followed Shanghai futures lower," said a source with a Tokyo-based commodities broker. "The front-month contract stood below 150 yen and the market is weak as the contango structure shows."
A price curve with cheaper prompt than forward prices is called contango.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for May delivery fell 280 yuan to finish at 10,335 yuan per tonne.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for January delivery last traded at 116.8 US cents per kg, down 2.4 US cent.
