Tokyo rubber futures hit three-week high

Tokyo (december 07, 2010) : key tokyo rubber futures rose to a three-week high on monday supported by a rise in oil prices, but a stronger yen limited their gains. the key tokyo commodity exchange rubber contract for may delivery settled up 2.1 percent, or 7.6 yen, at 378.0 yen per kg as after climbing as high as 378.8 yen, the highest for any benchmark since november 11.
the most active shanghai rubber futures for may delivery rose 470 yuan to close at 32,835 yuan ($4,928) per tonne on monday. volume declined to 0.78 million lots from 1.2 million lots on friday.
bridgestone corp said it will raise prices for truck and bus tyres by an average 7 percent effective march 1 to offset higher natural rubber prices, jiji reported. it will be the first price increase since september 2008, jiji said.
indian tyre makers have stopped signing new natural rubber import deals as they are getting the raw material more than 15 percent cheaper in the local market, dealers said. india, the world's fourth-biggest rubber producer, imports mainly from thailand, malaysia and indonesia. rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the shanghai futures exchange fell 10.7 percent from a week earlier, the exchange said on friday.