TOKYO, March 20 (Reuters) –
* The benchmark Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) rubber contract for August delivery was down 2.2 yen, or 1.1 percent, at 193.0 yen ($1.73) per kg, as of 0035 GMT, tracking an overnight loss in Shanghai futures.
* Key Shanghai futures ended overnight trading down 0.5 percent at 11,920 yuan ($1,776) per tonne
* The U.S. dollar was quoted at 111.52 yen, compared with about 111.25 yen on Tuesday afternoon
* Oil prices held close to four-month highs on Tuesday on expectations that OPEC would continue production cuts through the end of the year and ahead of official weekly U.S. crude inventory data
* Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock average was down 0.1 percent on Wednesday
* Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co said it would cut about 1,100 jobs in Germany
* TOCOM’s technically specified rubber (TSR) 20 futures contract for September delivery was down 0.3 percent at 170.5 yen per kg
* The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for April delivery was at 147.0 U.S. cents per kg on Wednesday, down 0.5 percent from the previous session
($1 = 6.7106 Chinese yuan)
