KUALA LUMPUR — The Malaysian rubber market is expected to rebound next week on renewed demand from China, but any upside would likely be capped by the firmer trend of the ringgit against the US dollar currently, dealers said.
A dealer said additionally, the movement of the benchmark rubber futures on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) would also influence prices on the domestic market.
The traders are anticipating a rebound in rubber prices as China returns to make fresh purchases for the Chinese New Year next month.
Meanwhile, the International Rubber Consortium Ltd said Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia had started a cut in exports of natural rubber for the implementation of the Fifth Agreed Export Tonnage Scheme with immediate effect from last Wednesday.
It said members of the International Tripartite Rubber Council would cut natural rubber exports by 350,000 tonnes between Dec 22 and March 31, 2018.
For the week just-ended, the market was traded mostly lower in line with the weaker performance of the regional rubber futures market.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s noon price for tyre-grade SMR 20 was 8.5 sen lower at 572.0 sen a kg, while latex-in-bulk increased 1.5 sen to 463.5 sen a kg.
The 5 pm unofficial closing price for SMR 20 decreased 15 sen to 575.0 sen a kg, but latex-in-bulk rose 0.5 sen to 463.0 sen a kg.
- Bernama
