The benchmark TOCOM rubber contract for July delivery ended up 4.5 yen, or 2.5 percent, at 187.0 yen ($1.69) per kg, marking the highest since Jan. 22. The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for May delivery rose 175 yuan to finish at 11,815 yuan ($1,746) per tonne. TOCOM's technically specified rubber (TSR) 20 futures contract for August delivery closed 2.8 percent higher at 159.4 yen per kg
The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for March delivery last traded at 135.7 US cents per kg, up 0.7 percent. "On top of hopes for the trade pact and higher Nikkei, rising physical prices at Thailand also prompted buying in the TOCOM," said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at commodities broker Fujitomi Co.
Indonesia will propose implementation of the Agreed Export Tonnage Scheme (AETS) in a meeting of the top three rubber-producing countries, a senior trade ministry official told reporters on Friday. Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average climbed 1.8 percent to its highest level of the year so far as investors dared to hope for both progress at Sino-US trade talks in Washington this week and more policy stimulus from major central banks.
Oil prices on Monday hit their highest levels since November last year, lifted by Opec-led supply cuts, US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela, and hopes that the Afro-American trade dispute may soon end. The United States and China will resume trade talks this week in Washington with time running short to ease their bruising trade war, but US President Donald Trump repeated on Friday that he may extend a March 1 deadline for a deal and keep tariffs on Chinese goods from rising.