KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — The Malaysian rubber market closed lower today as demand for the commodity remained weak hurt by a stronger ringgit against the US dollar, a dealer said.
“During the early trading session, the market opened mixed supported by the weaker ringgit coupled with the overnight gains in oil prices.
“However, the gains were capped by declining regional rubber futures market,” the dealer told Bernama.
The ringgit appreciated to 4.2590/2620 against the greenback at 6pm today compared to 4.2650/2680 recorded yesterday.
The overnight gains in oil prices was driven by a larger-than-expected decline in US crude inventories and as concerns surrounding Qatar’s diplomatic crisis eased.
The American Petroleum Institute reported a draw of 4.62 million barrels in the US crude oil inventories, compared to analyst’s expectations that markets would see a draw of only 3.5 million barrels for the week ending June 2.
The benchmark rubber futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange saw a downtrend pattern today hurt by a stronger yen.
At noon, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s official physical price for tyre-grade SMR 20 eased 7.5 sen to 585.5 sen a kg and latex-in-bulk fell 17.5 sen a kg.
The unofficial closing price for tyre-grade SMR 20 slipped 4.5 sen to 577 sen a kg while latex-in-bulk erased 17 sen to 581 sen a kg. — Bernama
