Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures plunged 4% on Friday, extending losses into a sixth straight session, as investors worried about weaker global demand from escalating US-Sino trade war, leading to the biggest weekly loss since March 2018.
The benchmark TOCOM rubber contract for January delivery finished 6.8 yen, or 4.0%, lower at 168.5 yen ($1.58) per kg, after touching the lowest since Dec. 26, 2018 of 166.9 yen earlier in the session.
For the week, it booked an 8.1% slide, marking a second consecutive weekly loss.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for September delivery slumped 300 yuan to finish at 10,340 yuan ($1,490) per tonne, the lowest close in about one year.
Rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 1.7% from last Friday, the exchange said on Friday.
TOCOM's technically specified rubber (TSR) 20 futures contract for February delivery closed down 0.2 yen at 148.0 yen per kg.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for September delivery last traded at 131.0 US cents per kg, down 0.5%, hovering at the lowest since late January.
