Rubber Market Ends Sharply Higher Tracking Regional Futures, Oil Price Gains
By Fatin Umairah Abdul Hamid
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 (Bernama) -- The Kuala Lumpur rubber market ended sharply higher on Wednesday, tracking gains in regional rubber futures markets and benchmark crude oil prices, said a dealer.
The dealer said a weaker ringgit against the greenback also provided additional support.
At the time of writing, benchmark crude oil prices had risen 0.39 per cent to US$91.85 per barrel.
He told Bernama that market sentiment was also underpinned by continued resilience in China's external trade and automotive export activity, reinforcing expectations of sustained demand for tyres and other rubber-based products.
“Rubber production is nearing the end of its seasonal cycle, while the diversion of raw materials to concentrated latex production is expected to constrain whole-latex rubber output, providing further support to natural rubber prices.
“However, further gains were capped by hotter-than-expected US inflation data and hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve officials, which fuelled expectations of a US interest rate hike next month,” he added.
At 3 pm, the price of Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR 20) rose by 34.5 sen to 1,004.50 sen per kilogramme (kg), while latex in bulk increased by five sen to 778.0 sen per kg.
-- BERNAMA