RUBBER-Tokyo futures dip to 4-mth low after weak U.S. data

Key TOCOM rubber futures fell to a four-month low on Tuesday, extending losses into a fourth session after weak U.S. factory data lifted the yen and hurt stock prices.

FUNDAMENTALS

* The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for September delivery was changing hands 1.8 percent lower at 262.2 yen as of 0022 GMT.

* The benchmark contract earlier fell as far as 259.9 yen, the lowest since Dec. 5.

* Monday's data showed U.S. factory activity grew at the slowest rate in three months in March, suggesting the world's biggest economy lost some momentum at the end of the first quarter.

* Toyota Motor Corp and its joint ventures in China sold 75,900 vehicles in the country in March, down 11.7 percent from a year earlier, the Japanese automaker said on Monday.

* Rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 1.5 percent to 117,696 tonnes last week (SNR-TOTAL-DW), their highest in three years as China cuts import taxes.

* Japan's central bank will start a two-day policy meeting on April 3, its first under new Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, an advocate of aggressive monetary policy. The currency market has already priced in a lot of easing from the Bank of Japan, making it hard for policymakers to surprise.

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MARKET NEWS

* The yen rose to a one-month high against the dollar early in Asia on Tuesday after the U.S. manufacturing data prompted investors to sell the greenback.

* The Nikkei share average dropped 2.2 percent to break below the key 12,000-mark for the first time in three weeks,

* U.S. crude prices extended the previous day's fall on Tuesday as a pipeline leak in Arkansas threatened to increase the glut of oil in the U.S. Midwest.