RUBBER-Japan futures close lower as firm yen, weak China data weigh

Dec 16 (Reuters) -

* Japanese rubber futures fell on Tuesday as a firmer yen and weak China data soured sentiment.

* The Osaka Exchange (OSE) rubber contract for May delivery lost 3.5 yen, or 1.06%, to 327 yen ($2.11) per kg.

* The rubber contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) for May delivery dipped 55 yuan, or 0.36%, to 15,170 yuan ($2,154.10) per metric ton.

* The most-active February butadiene rubber contract on the SHFE rose 120 yuan, or 1.11%, to 10,930 yuan per metric ton.

* The yen shot up 0.3% to 154.735 against the U.S. dollar, as traders braced for an expected interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan on Friday.

* A stronger currency makes yen-denominated assets less affordable for overseas buyers.

* Weak economic data from top consumer China continued to weigh, with risk appetite curbed by data that signalled China's economy had stalled in November.

* A sharp build in official SHFE rubber stocks last week offset much of mid-November's seasonal decline, Japan Exchange Group said in a report on Monday.

* "Rubber futures trading volumes are expected to taper off as year-end holidays approach, keeping market sentiment steady but cautious," the exchange added.

* Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei fell more than 1%, weighed by declines in chip and other artificial intelligence-linked stocks ahead of key U.S. employment data later in the day.

* Oil prices fell as prospects for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal strengthened.

* Natural rubber often takes direction from oil prices as it competes for market share with synthetic rubber, which is made from crude oil.

* The front-month rubber contract on Singapore Exchange's SICOM platform for January delivery last traded at 174.3 U.S. cents per kg, down 0.1%. ($1 = 154.9100 yen) ($1 = 7.0424 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Lucas Liew; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Harikrishnan Nair)

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