SINGAPORE, Aug 2 (Reuters) -

• Japanese rubber futures gained on Friday, although the contract was on track for a weekly decline as traders weighed the consequences of a stronger yen and mixed signals from China on its demand outlook.

• The Osaka Exchange (OSE) rubber contract for January delivery JRUc6, 0#2JRU: was up 2.1 yen, or 0.67%, at 313.4 yen ($2.10) per kg, as of 0230 GMT.

• Still, the contract has lost 1.45% so far this week.

• The January rubber contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) SNRv1 rose 120 yuan, or 0.77%, to 15,650 yuan ($2,163.31) per metric ton.

• Raw material prices remain firm and have been rising gradually, said a Singapore-based trader.

• Additionally, the U.S. Federal Reserve's hint at a September rate cut has led to a weaker dollar and stronger local currencies, lending price support, the trader added.

• The safe-haven Japanese yen traded near multi-month highs against the dollar after an unexpected slump in U.S. manufacturing fuelled fears of a downturn, sending stocks and bond yields tumbling. USD/

• The yen JPY=EBS traded around 0.2% stronger at 149.085 per dollar, after popping as high as 148.51 overnight for the first time since mid-March.

• A stronger currency makes yen-denominated assets less affordable to overseas buyers. FRX/

• Japan's Nikkei .N225 suffered heavy losses, tumbling 5% to fall below the 37,000 level for the first time since April, on the back of sharp gains in yen.

• Oil prices rose but were set for a fourth weekly decline as signs of disappointing global fuel demand growth outweighed fears of supply disruptions in the key Middle East production region. O/R

• 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 September rubber contract on Singapore Exchange's SICOM platform STFc1 last traded at 165.6 U.S. cents per kg, up 0.6%.

($1 = 149.3300 yen)

($1 = 7.2343 yuan)

($1 = 35.5200 baht)

Reporting by Gabrielle Ng; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips

For morning and afternoon prices at Thailand's state-run central rubber market, click on RUB-BKK3.
For other physical rubber prices in Thailand, click on RUB-BKK1, RUB-BKK2.
For more details on Indonesian and Malaysian prices click on RURKJK and RUQG.
* Reuters Terminal users can see cash and futures rubber prices by double clicking on the codes in the brackets:

- Tokyo rubber futures -- 0#JRU:
- Shanghai rubber futures -- 0#SNR:
- Singapore rubber futures -- 0#SRS:0#SRU:0#STF:
- Thai rubber futures -- 0#ARU:0#ASR20:
- All rubber news RUB
- Tokyo rubber report RUB/T
- Shanghai rubber report RUB-CN
- Thailand rubber report RUB/TH
- Asian rubber report RUB/AS

For Related News and other topics, double click on one of these codes: SPEED GUIDES RUBBER1, SOFTS/NEWS1