rubber--TOKYO: The most-active Tokyo rubber futures fell on Wednesday, hurt by declines in regional stock markets, though they stayed within a recent range.

The benchmark rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) for January delivery fell 1.7 yen, or 0.8 percent, to 218.6 yen per kg.

It had risen as much as 1.4 percent in the evening session on Tuesday after Thailand announced it would spend another 15 billion baht ($476 million) on buying rubber from farmers, nearly a week after it, Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to cut down trees and trim exports by 300,000 tonnes in their latest attempt to shore up slumping global prices.

Gu Jiong, an analyst at Japanese commodity brokerage Yutaka Shoji, said that a recent rally had mainly been driven by buying from funds at around 218 yen, with that level now providing solid support.

The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for January delivery fell 70 yuan to 21,395 yuan per tonne.

Asian shares slipped on Wednesday as slumping Japanese exports reminded investors of the risks the euro zone debt crisis poses to regional economies.

The Shanghai Composite Index finished down 0.5 percent, inching closer to a three week low marked on Monday.

The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for September delivery last traded at 252.5 US cents per kg, down 1.6 cents.

Copyright Reuters, 2012

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