TOCOM jumps to 5-week high on disease outbreak in Thailand

• The benchmark TOCOM rubber contract for March delivery  finished 4.6 yen, or 2.8%, higher at 170.4 yen ($1.57) per kg.
• A key rubber tree-growing area in Thailand has been hit by an outbreak of a fungal disease, which could halve the area's output.
• Supply concerns grew after the rubber market suffered the double whammy of Thai fungal disease and data suggesting global supply shortage in the first half of this year.

TOKYO: Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures jumped to a 5-week high on Wednesday as an outbreak of a fungal disease in top producer Thailand raised supply concerns.

* The benchmark TOCOM rubber contract for March delivery  finished 4.6 yen, or 2.8%, higher at 170.4 yen ($1.57) per kg, marking the biggest one-day percentage gain since early June. It touched the highest since Sept. 18 of 171.4 yen earlier in the session.

* A key rubber tree-growing area in Thailand has been hit by an outbreak of a fungal disease, which could halve the area's output, the country's rubber authority said on Monday.

* Japanese financial markets were closed on Tuesday for a one-off national holiday when Japanese Emperor Naruhito proclaimed his enthronement.

* "Supply concerns grew after the rubber market suffered the double whammy of Thai fungal disease and data suggesting global supply shortage in the first half of this year," said Hideshi Matsunaga, analyst at Sunward Trading, pointing to the statistics released by the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) last week.

* The world supply of natural rubber fell 8.3% to 5.853 million tonnes in the first half of 2019 from the same period a year earlier, while the world demand increased 0.8% to 6.933 million tonnes, the ANRPC said on its website.

* The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery ended steady at 11,840 yuan ($1,674) per tonne. China's new technically specified rubber (TSR) 20 futures contract was last down 35 yuan at 10,015 yuan per tonne.

* Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average edged up to a one year-high, supported by gains for the pharma sector.

* Oil prices declined, holding below $60 a barrel, on data showing a bigger-than-expected rise in US crude stocks, but the prospect of deeper output cuts by OPEC and its allies offered support.

* TOCOM's TSR 20 futures contract for April delivery closed unchanged at 148.9 yen per kg

* The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for November delivery last traded at 131.1 US cents per kg, down 0.1%.