It rose to an intra-day high of 289 yen, the highest since May. 11, before profit-taking set in. The most-active rubber contract on Shanghai futures exchange for May delivery was down 55 yuan to finish at 25,290 yuan ($4,100) per tonne. The front-month January rubber contract Singapore's SICOM exchange was last traded at $2.95 per kg, up 4.0 cents.
"The market was still supported by hopes about more easing policies, but trading volume was quite thin and that prevents prices from rising significantly. And profit-taking by small investors also capped the gain," said a Bangkok-based dealer. Dealers said hopes about easing monetary policies in Japan could provide support to TOCOM prices to stay at relatively firm levels for a few weeks.