TOCOM ends up 0.5 pct after hitting 6-month high

TOKYO Jan 5 (Reuters) – Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures ended up 0.5 percent on Monday, off a six-month high hit earlier due to weak Shanghai futures, brokers said.

Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures, which set the tone for tyre rubber prices in Southeast Asia, earlier rose 0.9 percent to an intraday high of 215.2 yen, the highest since July 3.

“The floods in Malaysia and Thailand in addition to weak Shanghai futures helped put a lid on TOCOM strength,” said a Tokyo-based broker.

The benchmark Shanghai futures hit their highest level in nearly four months on Dec. 31, the previous trading day, on the back of monsoon rains in Malaysia that curbed production, and a People’s Bank of China move to ease liquidity conditions that rekindled hopes for more rubber demand.

The Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for June delivery <0#2JRU:> finished 1.1 yen higher at 214.4 yen ($2) per kg on the first trading day of 2015.

Flooding across parts of major rubber producer Malaysia due to monsoon rains cut production in December and is expected to reduce rubber supply sharply in early 2015, a senior government official said last week.

The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for May delivery fell 160 yuan to finish at 13,365 yuan per tonne.

The front-month rubber contract on Singapore’s SICOM exchange for February delivery last traded at 151.10 U.S. cents per kg, down 2.3 cents.

TOCOM Rubber Futures Prices on Monday, January 05, 2015 (yen/kilogram)

Month	Last Settlement Price	Open	High	Low	Close	Change	Volume	Settlement
Jan 2015	196.7	196.7	197.2	195.6	197.2	+0.5	95	197.2
Feb 2015	202.3	201.4	203.3	201.4	203.3	+1.0	58	203.3
Mar 2015	207.1	206.9	208.7	206.6	207.9	+0.9	103	208.0
Apr 2015	210.0	210.4	211.8	209.8	210.5	+0.7	387	210.7
May 2015	212.1	212.1	213.7	211.5	212.7	+0.9	4,739	213.0
Jun 2015	213.3	213.5	215.2	212.5	214.5	+1.1	7,244	214.4
Total							12,626