TOCOM rallies as Thailand's top producer cuts output

BEIJING/BANGKOK:* Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures rallied on Monday as the largest manufacturer and exporter in top producer Thailand cut output of a major rubber product

* The benchmark TOCOM rubber contract for January delivery

finished up 4.1 yen ($0.0385) at 172.9 yen per kg

* The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery rose 250 yuan  ($35.48) to finish at 11,635 yuan per tonne. China's new technically specified rubber (TSR) 20 futures contract was last up 150 yuan at 9,995 yuan per tonne

* "Von bundit announced last Friday that they are cutting production of Ribbed Smoked Sheet (RSS) and the main products traded on TOCOM and Singapore's SICOM exchange are RSS rubber," said Tang Xiaonan, analyst, JLC Network Technology Co Ltd

* Von Bundit Co., Ltd told Reuters on Monday it was still operating normally, but only cutting output to be more lean

* Rubber prices rose even as the world's top producers of natural rubber are ending curbs on exports of the commodity, although local prices in producing countries declined

* The U.S. dollar was quoted around 106.59 yen, compared with about 106.36 yen on Friday afternoon

* Crude oil prices rose on Monday following a weekend attack on a Saudi oil facility by Yemeni separatists and as traders looked for any signs that Sino-U.S. trade tensions could ease

* Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average was up 0.71%

* TOCOM's TSR 20 futures contract for February delivery

closed at 145.4 yen per kg

* The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for September delivery last traded at 131.7 U.S. cents per kg, up 1%