Tokyo

FIRST, Chinese speculators came for coking coal and iron ore, catapulting markets into orbit. Now, they're carpetbagging a different commodity, pushing it to its fastest price rise in more than a quarter of a century - rubber.

Traders say Chinese investors are punting on global rubber demand surging on revived growth in China stoking the auto sector, allied with hope a Trump stimulus will stoke the US economy. The world's biggest tyre maker, Bridgestone, has already warned it may have to lift product prices.