KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 – The Kuala Lumpur rubber market ended mixed on Monday, taking the cue from weaker regional rubber futures and firmer crude oil prices, a dealer said.
She said Japanese rubber futures declined as expectations of higher natural and synthetic rubber supply, along with elevated inventories in top consumer China, weighed on prices across exchanges.
“Rubber inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) also rose by one per cent week-on-week,” the dealer told Bernama.
She added that tighter United States (US) monetary policy, supported by resilient US jobs data, also weighed on market sentiment.
However, the dealer said further losses were capped by gains in crude oil prices.
“Oil prices jumped on Monday, spooked by Israel’s launch of renewed strikes on Lebanon a day earlier and gaining further steam after reports of explosions were heard in Iran,” she said.
At the time of writing, Brent crude rose 4.74 per cent to US$97.50 per barrel.
At 3 pm, the price of Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) 20 decreased by 11 sen to 926 sen per kilogramme (kg), while latex-in-bulk increased by 0.5 sen to 762.50 sen per kg.
