Rubber Market Ends Lower Amid Regional Declines

By Fatin Umairah Abdul Hamid

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 (Bernama) -- The Kuala Lumpur rubber market ended lower on Tuesday, in tandem with the regional rubber futures markets, said a dealer.

The dealer said ongoing US tariff threats, weaker crude oil prices, and a firmer ringgit against the US dollar weighed down the market sentiment.

At the time of writing, the local note was almost flat at 4.0520/0565 against the greenback from Monday’s close of 4.0520/0570. Meanwhile, Brent crude was down 0.25 per cent to US$63.78 a barrel.

“Nevertheless, further losses were limited by concerns over tightening raw material supplies in major natural rubber-producing countries due to persistent wet weather, China’s stimulus measures, and positive global gross domestic products projections,” he told Bernama.

At 3 pm, Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) 20 was down by 6.5 sen per kilogramme (kg) to 741.5 sen/kg, while latex-in-bulk was down slightly by 1.0 sen/kg to 575.00 sen/kg.

-- BERNAMA