TOKYO: Benchmark Tokyo rubber futures surged to a near 8-month high on Monday, as near-month contracts continued to rise on speculators' purchase while higher oil prices lent support, offsetting growth concerns in top buyer China, dealers said.
China's GDP growth cooled slightly in the fourth quarter from a year earlier as expected, weighed down by weak investment and faltering consumer confidence as Washington piled on trade pressure, leaving 2018 growth at 6.6 percent, the weakest in 28 years.
"Due to massive and unusual long positions held by speculators in near-term contracts such as January and February, forward-month contracts also continued to rally," a Tokyo-based dealer said.
Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures, which set the tone for rubber prices in Southeast Asia, rose for a fourth consecutive session.
The TOCOM rubber contract for June delivery finished 4.8 yen, or 2.6 percent, higher at 191.0 yen ($1.74) per kg, after touching the highest level since May 30, 2018 of 193.4 yen earlier in the session.
Also on upside, crude prices rose to their highest so far in 2019 on Monday after data showed refinery processing in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, climbed to a record last year despite a slowing economy.
In a move to prop up local rubber prices, an Indonesian government official said on Monday the country could consume "hundreds of thousands of tonnes" of latex this year, as it begins a programme to blend the commodity with asphalt to build rubber roads.
TOCOM's technically specified rubber (TSR) 20 futures contract for July delivery rose 3.1 percent to close at 158.0 yen per kg.
The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for May delivery rose 180 yuan to finish at 11,845 yuan ($1,743) per tonne.
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for February delivery last traded at 137.7 U.S. cents per kg, up 2.5 percent.
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