KUALA LUMPUR — The Malaysian rubber market is likely to trade cautiously next week on a lack of catalysts, said a dealer. He said the rubber market’s movement would depend on the performance of the ringgit against the US dollar, crude oil prices and its regional peers.
At 6 pm on Friday, the ringgit ended lower at 4.4520/4570 against the greenback from 4.4470/4510 on Thursday. “Traders are becoming increasingly confident that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will hike interest rates this month,” said the dealer.
The Fed will hold its policy meeting on March 14 and March 15. For the week just ended, the market was in rangebound trading on a lack of leads. On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s noon price for SMR 20 rose 22.5 sen to 925.0 sen a kg, and latex-in-bulk slipped 3.5 sen to 774.5 sen a kg. The 5 pm unofficial closing price for SMR 20 increased 22.5 sen to 924.5 sen a kg, while latex-in-bulk edged down 0.5 sen to 774.0 sen a kg.
