TOCOM follows Shanghai lower after 2-day rally

Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures ended down 0.8 percent on Friday as weak Shanghai futures prompted market participants to book profits from a two-day rally to near two-month highs, brokers said.

Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures, which set the tone for tyre rubber prices in Southeast Asia, gained 6.5 percent in the previous two sessions.

The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for December delivery finished 1.7 yen lower at 214.5 yen ($1.92) per kg. It had hit a near two-month high of 218 yen on Thursday.

For the week, the contract gained 6.4 percent.

The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for September delivery fell 125 yuan to finish at 13,970 yuan ($2,065) per tonne.

Rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 1.5 percent from last Friday, the exchange said on Friday.

The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for August delivery last traded at 156 U.S. cents per kg, down 1.3 cents. ($1 = 6.7651 Chinese yuan) ($1 = 111.7800 yen)