The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for August delivery last traded at 140.5 US cents per kg, up 0.4%. "We're seeing some short-covering as prices are pretty low already," said a Singapore-based trader. "Fundamentally, we are also seeing a steady supply increment while demand is not so good as the biggest user China is still going through a trade war with the US," the trader said.
The US dollar was last quoted at 108.02 yen on Thursday afternoon, compared with 108.46 on Wednesday. Oil futures hit a six-week high on Thursday as oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico were evacuated ahead of a storm, while an incident with a British tanker in the Middle East highlighted ongoing tensions in the region.