KUALA LUMPUR — The Malaysian rubber market is likely to trend higher next week on improved demand for the commodity, dealers said. A dealer said the improvement on regional futures markets helped boost the local market. “However, the rubber prices will also track the trend in crude oil prices as well as the ringgit’s movement,” the dealer added.
For the week just ended, rubber prices were traded higher due to the weakening of the ringgit against the US dollar and influenced by the movement of rubber prices on regional futures markets. On a weekly basis, the local market traded higher throughout the week, with the Malaysian Rubber Board’s noon price for tyre-grade SMR 20 gaining 25 sen to 519.5 sen a kg, while latex-in-bulk rose 3.5 sen to 378 sen a kg. The 5 pm unofficial closing price for SMR 20 increased 20.5 sen to 517.5 sen a kg, while latex-in-bulk was four sen higher at 379 sen a kg.
