TOCOM hits over 3-month high tracking Shanghai

Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures hit a more than three-month high on Tuesday as Shanghai futures extended gains to touch their highest in over five months, while a rally in industrial metals helped boost investor risk appetite, dealers said.

The Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) rubber contract for February delivery ended 0.7 yen higher at 228.6 yen ($2.09) per kg after earlier rising to 231.8 yen, the highest since May 24.

The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery rose 245 yuan to close at 17,335 yuan ($2,647) per tonne. It earlier climbed to as high as 17,435 yuan, the highest since March 22.

"Shanghai led the way again," said Satoru Yoshida, a commodity analyst withRakuten Securities.

Th trading range in TOCOM futures was boosted to around 225-230 yen following an elevation in Shanghai rubber levels to around 17,300 yuan, Yoshida said.

Dealers said Tokyo rubber futures also got a leg-up from a rally in industrial metals, with London copper hitting a three-year high on Tuesday on expectations of further signs of a healthy economic outlook for China.

China's services sector expanded at a faster clip in August as new business orders picked up, a private business survey showed, pointing to renewed strength in a key part of the world's second-largest economy.

The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for October delivery last traded at 167.4 U.S. cents per kg, up 4.1 cent.

($1 = 109.4400 yen) ($1 = 6.5499 Chinese yuan)