RUBBER-Tokyo futures highest in over 2-weeks on weaker yen

Key TOCOM rubber futures hit the highest in more than two weeks on Monday, helped by a weakeryen, though weekend data from China showing an uneven economic recovery in the world's top rubber user could cap the market's fifth straight day of gains.

FUNDAMENTALS

* The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for August delivery traded up 3.2 yen at 301.4 yen per kg, or 1.1 percent from the previous close.

The contract earlier rose as high as 302.4 yen, the highest for any benchmark since Feb. 21.

* The August contract last week fell as far as 281.0 yen, a two-and-a-half month low, before improved U.S. economic data fueled demand optimism, weighed on the yen and invited fresh buying.

* Friday's U.S. jobs report signaled the world's biggest economy may have developed enough momentum to withstand the blow from higher taxes and deep government spending cuts, helping lift the dollar to a 3-1/2 year high against the yen.

* China's official data released at the weekend showed inflation at a 10-month high in February while factory output and consumer spending were weaker than forecast.

* Japan's core machinery orders tumbled 13.1 percent in January from the previous month, down for the first time in four months, government data showed on Monday.

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MARKET NEWS

* Japan's Nikkei share average gained at Monday's open following surprisingly strong U.S. jobs data, with a weaker yen fuelling gains in exporters and pushing the benchmark to a fresh 4-1/2 year high.

* In early Asian trade on Monday, the dollar changed hands at 96.24 yen, about 0.25 percent above its late U.S. levels and not far from Friday's high of 96.60 yen, which was its highest level since August 12, 2009.

* Brent crude futures edged lower on Friday as U.S. jobs data strengthened the dollar, while U.S. gasoline futures rallied to a 2013 high because high-priced ethanol credits, or RINs, are raising refiners' costs and making fuel imports too expensive.