Rubber market likely to be uncertain next week

The Malaysian rubber market is likely to be uncertain and would adopt a wait and see attitude next week as there was no direction for the market, a dealer said.

He said the market direction had yet to be determined as traders were cautiously monitoring the volatility of the ringgit and global oil prices.

He noted that lack of demand and buying support from Chinese buyers was also a factor that would contribute to the market condition next week.

“Usually, Chinese buyers would start buying the natural rubber to accumulate their stocks before the Chinese New Year holidays.

“However, it turned out that they lacked buying interest at the local market as stocks are still available to them,” he told Bernama, adding that China is the world’s largest consumer of the commodity.

For the week just-ended, the market was traded mostly lower.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s official physical price for tyre-grade SMR 20 declined 14 sen to 492.50 sen a kg while latex-in-bulk eased 11 sen to 375.50 sen a kg.

The unofficial closing price for tyre-grade SMR 20 slipped 18 sen to 491.50 sen a kg and latex-in-bulk dropped 13 sen to 373.50 sen a kg.