RUBBER-Tokyo futures edge up ahead of China PMI data

Tokyo rubber futures extended gains into a second day on Thursday, ahead of Chinese manufacturing data that is expected to show the world's second-biggest economy is gradually recovering.

FUNDAMENTALS

* The benchmark Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for April delivery< 0#2JRU:> was up 2.1 yen or 0.8 percent at 257.2 yen as of 0021 GMT, after ending October with a 2.1 percent monthly decline.

Commodities ended October with the steepest decline in five months as a shaky global economy countered the impact of U.S. stimulus steps.

* Analysts forecast in a Reuters poll that China's official purchasing managers index (PMI), due at 0100 GMT, rebounded to 50.3 in October from 49.8 in September, which would suggest factory output is accelerating again after two months of slowing growth.

* Ivory Coast's natural rubber exports totalled 199,277 tonnes from January to September, up around 15 percent from a year earlier, due to the resumption of exports after a months-long interruption last year during a violent post-election crisis, provisional port data showed on Wednesday.