The benchmark Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) rubber contract, for January delivery , hit a three-week low of 165.2 yen per kg, down 3.1 percent, at the open on Thursday due to an overnight plunge in Shanghai futures and a stronger yen against the dollar.
* Key Shanghai futures ended overnight trading down 4.7 percent.
* The U.S. dollar was quoted around 110.51 yen, compared with around 111.27 yen on Wednesday afternoon
* Oil futures slid on Wednesday, with U.S. crude settling 3 percent lower after government data showed a surprise weekly increase in domestic crude stockpiles, compounding worries about the global economic growth outlook.
* Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average was down 1.4 percent
* The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for September delivery hit a near two-week low of 131.3 U.S. cents per kg on Thursday.
