TOCOM declines for eighth session on weaker Shanghai

Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures declined for an eighth straight session on Thursday, and hovered near a seven-month low hit the previous day, as weakening Shanghai futures amid concerns over supply glut hurt investor sentiment.

The Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) rubber contract for November delivery finished down 3.9 yen at 181.6 yen ($1.65) per kg, marking the longest losing streak since mid-February.

"Shanghai market has been under pressure amid high level of rubber inventories at warehouses in the Chinese port of Qingdao and slack tyre demand in China," Jiong Gu, an analyst at Yutaka Shoji Co said.

"That set the recent tone for the TOCOM," he said.

The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for September delivery fell 100 yuan to finish at 12,405 yuan ($1,825.66) per tonne. It has nearly halved since hitting a high in mid-February.

"Physical rubber prices in Thailand have also come down sharply due to oversupply, weighing on the TOCOM future prices, especially for front-month contracts," Gu said.

The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for July delivery last traded at 139.0 U.S. cents per kg, down 0.5 cent.

($1 = 110.0700 yen) ($1 = 6.7948 Chinese yuan)