KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian rubber market is expected to see a rebound next week on positive sentiment lifted by the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries’ (ANRPC) anticipation of a possibility of faster demand growth for natural rubber (NR), dealers said.
A dealer said demand for NR was expected to derive from non-ANRPC regions, in addition to a balanced demand-supply situation for the second quarter of 2017.
ANRPC producing countries — Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia – might limit exports of NR to reduce price volatility, the dealer said.
He said the local rubber market would also continue to watch closely the movements of rubber futures prices on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM), which ended higher in the week just-ended.
“Sentiment is also expected to remain cautious on anticipation of a slight increase in the ringgit, as well as global crude oil prices movement, ” said the dealer.
For the week just-ended, the market traded lower to mixed despite an uptrend in the TOCOM, as well as the ringgit and crude oil movements.
The rubber market was closed last Friday due to Good Friday.
On a Friday-to-Thursday basis, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s noon price for SMR 20 fell by 16.5 sen to 692 sen a kg, while latex-in-bulk decreased 39.5 sen to 613.50 sen a kg.
The 5pm unofficial closing price for SMR 20 declined 22.5 sen to 678 sen a kg, while latex-in-bulk declined 40 sen to 612 sen a kg.
