TOCOM up slightly on strong Shanghai rubber on July 17

Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures edged up slightly on Tuesday tracking gains in Shanghai rubber, but remain pressured by high stocks.

Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures, which set the tone for rubber prices in Southeast Asia, fell briefly in morning trade after hitting a one-week high earlier in the session.

"There was no substantial news supporting the rise except there was report that physical rubber prices went up in Yunnan district," said Zhu Ziyue, analyst with Hongyuan futures.

Stocks in Qingdao bonded area keep increasing, which will keep constraining the rise in rubber futures," Zhu said.

The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for December delivery finished 0.2 yen (US$0.0018) higher at 173.1 yen per kg.

The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for September delivery rose 30 yuan (US$4.50) to finish at 10,335 yuan per tonne.

The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for August delivery last traded at 131.6 US cents per kg, up 0.1 cent.

(US$1 = 112.2700 yen)

(US$1 = 6.6718 Chinese yuan)