KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian rubber market closed lower today on the strengthening of the ringgit against the US dollar, a dealer said.
“This is in line with lower opening on Tokyo Commodity Exchange as it edged down early today, putting the contract at its lowest level in nearly three weeks,” he told Bernama.
He said this was concurrent with the decline on Japanese equities and lower crude oil prices which weakened sentiment further for the soft commodity.
“On Shanghai futures, meanwhile, participants have been swapping contract positions to the January contract month from September, impacting the benchmark contract,” he said.
At the close, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s official physical price for tyre-grade SMR 20 slipped 5.5 sen to 527.5 sen a kg, while latex-in-bulk was four sen lower to 458 sen a kg.
The unofficial closing price for tyre-grade SMR 20 fell 0.5 sen to 528.5 sen a kg, while latex-in-bulk shed 3.5 sen to 456.5 sen a kg.– Bernama