TOCOM slides for 3rd day as oil prices hit 7-month lows

Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures slid for a third straight day on Wednesday, hovering at a near two-week low, as falling oil prices prompted fresh selling, dealers said.

Oil fell to seven-month lows on Wednesday, set for its largest price slide in the first half of any year for the past two decades, as investors discounted evidence of strong compliance by OPEC and non-OPEC producers with a deal to cut global output.

The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for November delivery finished 4.0 yen lower at 186.3 yen ($1.68) per kg. It fell to a low of 183.0 yen earlier in the session, near the lowest since June 8 of 181.1 yen hit the previous day.

"Selling pressure grew as investors figured that Thailand's measures to shore up rubber prices would not have much impact," said Masayo Kondo, president ofCommodity Intelligence, a Japanese commodity market research company.

Thailand's cabinet approved measures to help rubber farmers and stabilise falling prices, the country's prime minister said last week.

The International Rubber Consortium (IRCo), the main international rubber producer group, held an internal meeting of its Committee on Strategic Market Operations last weekend in Indonesia to discuss falling rubber prices, but details of discussions have not been disclosed.

The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for September delivery fell 95 yuan to finish at 12,565 yuan ($1,841) per tonne.

The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for July delivery last traded at 139.0 U.S. cents per kg, down 0.2 cent. ($1 = 111.0700 yen) ($1 = 6.8261 Chinese yuan)