Rubber mart to stay quiet, says dealer

The Malaysian rubber market is likely to see similar trade next week in tandem with the sentiment in the region, dealers said.

The local market is expected to remain quiet without much activity, said a dealer.

"Prices are likely to move sideways in a tight range," he said.

He also said that investors of rubber futures contracts in the region are likely to avoid risk as the bond auction in Spain had failed to convince investors that the eurozone debt crisis is over.

He believes that the local market will improve due to the strong fundamentals.

"The rainy season could cause shortage of supply and this will result in higher demand for rubber," he added.

For the week just-ended, the rubber market was quiet on most of the days in tandem with the weak performance of the rubber futures markets in the region.

On a week-to-week basis, the Malaysian Rubber Board's official physical price for tyre-grade SMR 20 fell 11 sen to 1,101 sen per kg while latex-in-bulk decreased 17 sen to 747.5 sen per kg.

The unofficial sellers' closing price for tyre-grade SMR 20 lost 4.5 sen to 1,102 sen per kg and latex-in-bulk slipped 14 sen to 746.5 sen per kg. -- Bernama