The Malaysian rubber market is likely to trade cautiously next week due to profit-taking after prices surged to nearly five-year highs this week, a dealer said.

The tyre-grade SMR 20 rose to its highest level since May 2012 to close at 1,011 sen per kg on Monday.

The dealer said the market direction for next week would be unclear as investors had been growing wary of the recent rally, while on the other hand, physical supply remained tight.

The dealer said tighter supplies had driven the local rubber prices upwards after Thailand was hit by its worst floods in more than 30 years recently.

However, she said some traders were taking a wait-and-see approach after rubber prices hit historical highs.

"The rebound in crude oil prices is also expected to cap the fall," she told Bernama.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the Malaysian Rubber Board's official physical price for tyre-grade SMR 20 at noon slid 28.5 sen to 950 sen a kg while latex-in-bulk added 66 sen to 752 sen a kg.

The 5 pm closing price for tyre-grade SMR 20 decreased 32 sen to 924 sen a kg while latex-in-bulk advanced 60 sen to 751 sen a kg. -- Bernama