Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) futures rose on Wednesday, buoyed by strong Shanghai futures, as investors cleared short positions, pushing up prices. The benchmark TOCOM rubber contract for February delivery finished 4.3 yen ($0.0408) higher at 166.4 yen per kg. "Short positions in the September contract futures either go cleared or moved to other contracts," said Tang Xiaonan, analyst, JLC Network Technology Co Ltd, explaining the rise.

"On the fundamentals, typhoon has affected northeastern Thailand and Hainan island in China, but impact is limited as areas hit are not major rubber production regions," Tang added. The most-active rubber contract on the Shanghai futures exchange for January delivery rose 300 yuan ($42.30) to finish at 12,110 yuan per tonne. China's new technically specified rubber (TSR) 20 futures contract was last up 325 yuan at 10,395 yuan per tonne.

TOCOM's TSR 20 futures contract for March delivery closed at 141 yen per kg.

The front-month rubber contract on Singapore's SICOM exchange for October delivery last traded at 134 US cents per kg, up 2.2%. The US dollar was quoted around 106.22 yen, compared with around 105.92 yen on Tuesday afternoon.

Oil prices recovered some ground on Wednesday, boosted by a wider market pickup on positive news from China's services sector, having touched their lowest in close to a month during the previous session on fears over the weakening global economy.

Copyright Reuters, 2019