Key TOCOM rubber futures rose for the fifth consecutive session on Tuesday, though half their gains for the day were wiped out with uncertainty over the outlook for the global economy capping any advances. The key Tokyo Commodity Exchange rubber contract for March delivery settled up 3.5 yen, or 1.1 percent, at 319.6 yen per kg after rising as high as 323.9 yen, up 2.4 percent.
The contract has recovered about 25 yen in the last five sessions, or about half of its 50.5 yen fall since Sept. 26. The most active Shanghai rubber contract for January delivery climbed 1.4 percent to close at 28,220 yuan per tonne. Volume stood at 894,610 lots. "There is news of limited supply from Thailand due to floods and government restrictions, but the European debt crisis and concerns about the US economy outweighed that," said Naoki Asami, chief broker at trading company Kanetsu. Industry analysts said on Monday that Thailand's worst flooding in five decades could disrupt the operations of automobile and parts makers that use the Southeast Asian country as a production base.