* Japanese rubber futures edged lower on Thursday, as
traders
weighed indicators of stock market strength with a stronger yen
and expectations of further U.S. interest rate hikes.
* Osaka Exchange's rubber contract for August delivery finished 0.9 yen, or 0.4%, lower at 221.6 yen ($1.62)
per kg.
* The benchmark contract hit its lowest since Feb. 21 at
222.0
yen, and posted its fourth day-on-day decline out of the last
five sessions.
* Similarly, the rubber contract on the Shanghai futures
exchange
for May delivery fell 185 yuan to finish at 12,190 yuan
($1,748.95) per tonne.
* Japan's benchmark Nikkei average closed up 0.63%
higher.
* The downfall across rubber commodities can largely be
attributed
to U.S. hawkish interest rates, said a Singapore-based trader.
* In the second day of his testimony to Congress on
Wednesday,
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed his hawkish
message, though struck a cautious note that debate on the scale
and path of future rate hikes was still underway and would be
data-dependent.
* Japan's economy grew a tad slower than initially estimated
in
the fourth quarter, revised government data showed on Thursday,
weighed down by weak consumption and underscoring the fragility
of its recovery.
* The Japanese yen strengthened 0.48% to 136.69 per
dollar,
as of 0742 GMT.
* A stronger yen makes yen-denominated assets less
affordable when
purchased in other currencies.
* Asian shares wobbled while the dollar was perched near a
three-month top on Thursday after a spate of economic data
overnight appeared to support Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome
Powell's hawkish guidance on further interest rate increases.
* The front-month rubber contract on Singapore Exchange's
SICOM
platform for April delivery last traded at 134.7 U.S.
cents per kg, down 1.2%.
($1 = 136.6800 yen)
($1 = 6.9699 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Carman Chew; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
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