Rubber market likely to be firmer next week

The Malaysian rubber market is expected to be firmer next week with the removal of various negative market sentiment, a dealer said. "The better-than-expected economic growth for China was expected to support rubber prices coupled with the likelihood of a strong El-Nino which could affect production," he told Bernama.

For the holiday-shortened week, the market was mixed in quiet trading as players adopted a wait-and-see attitude in the absence of fresh leads.

On a weekly basis, the Malaysian Rubber Board's official physical price for tyre-grade SMR 20 was one sen higher at 543 sen a kg while latex-in-bulk slipped one sen to 435.5 sen a kg. The market was closed on Friday for the Hari Raya Aidil Fitri holiday.