TOCOM posts 5.5% weekly gain on Thai measure

Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures extended gains for a third straight session on Friday and posted a weekly gain of 5.5%, after touching a seven-year low earlier in the week, helped by a Thai measure to help farmers by buying the commodity at above-market prices.

Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures, which set the tone for tyre rubber prices in Southeast Asia, hit a seven-year low of 144.5 yen on Tuesday, amid plunging oil prices and worries over slowing Chinese economy, but have since recovered 9%, helped by the Thai measure.

The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for June delivery finished 0.4 yen higher at 157.7 yen per kg, after hitting 159.8 yen earlier, the highest since Dec 30.

"Individual investors had been selling out before, but they began buying back," said a source with a Tokyo-based dealer. "From next week onwards, the market may keep the current levels, as buy backs of individual investors are likely to continue."

The most active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for May delivery fell 35 yuan to finish at 9,795 yuan per tonne, after data showed that China's bank lending slowed in December.

The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for February delivery last traded at 107.8 U.S. cents per kg, down 0.1 cent.