LOCAL RUBBER MARKET ENDS MIXED AMID REGIONAL DOWNTREND, HIGHER OIL PRICES

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 (Bernama) -- The Kuala Lumpur rubber market ended mixed on Monday amid a downtrend in regional rubber futures markets and rising oil prices, a dealer said.

She said the downtrend was due to uncertainty arising from escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and China's weak economic performance.

“Nonetheless, further losses were capped by gains in benchmark crude oil prices. The market sentiment was also supported by the supply disruption due to adverse weather conditions in Thailand and Malaysia,” the dealer told Bernama.

Oil prices nudged higher on Monday as heightened tensions in the Middle East following the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by rebels offset concerns over weak Chinese demand that was highlighted by Saudi Aramco.

“Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest crude oil exporter, has reduced its January 2025 prices for Asian buyers to the lowest level since early 2021, it said on Sunday, as weak demand from top importer China weighs on the market,” she noted.

Meanwhile, she said that Thailand's meteorological agency on Friday has announced that the farmers should prepare for crop damage on Dec 6 and 7 as well as Dec 11 and 12, 2024, due to changeable weather in the upper part of the country.

She added that the agency forecast heavy to very heavy rains that may cause flash flood from Dec 12 to 14 this year. 

The Malaysian Rubber Board reported that the price of Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR 20) decreased by 15.5 sen to 921.0 sen per kilogramme (kg), while latex-in-bulk increased by 3.5 sen to 691.0 sen.

At 5 pm, SMR 20 stood at 916.5 sen per kg, and latex-in-bulk was at 695.0 sen per kg.

-- BERNAMA