KUALA LUMPUR — The Malaysian rubber market is expected to remain subdued next week amid continued worries over global demand.
A dealer said the market was concerned over the slowdown in the growth of consumption by top consumer country, China, after data by the Shanghai Futures Exchange showed that rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the exchange rose 3.5 per cent week-on-week.
He said the local rubber market would also track the movements of the Tokyo Commodity Exchange and directions from ringgit movements against US dollar as well as crude oil prices.
“The market could lend some support from the stronger oil price as a pipeline outage in Britain continued to lift oil prices,” he said.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s noon price for tyre-grade SMR 20 rose 17 sen to 586.5 sen a kg, while latex-in-bulk fell 31 sen to 465.5 sen a kg.
The 5pm unofficial closing price for SMR 20 was 3.5 sen higher at 577.5 sen a kg but latex-in-bulk lost 36.5 sen to 449 sen a kg.
- Bernama
