Rubber Market Ends Higher On Gains In Oil Prices

By Nur Athirah Mohd Shaharuddin & Danni Haizal Danial Donald

KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 (Bernama) -- The Kuala Lumpur rubber market closed higher on Wednesday, supported by gains in crude oil prices, a dealer said.

The dealer said market sentiment was also supported by the positive United States (US) economic data, which boosted optimism for a September US interest rate cut, coupled with hopes for more Chinese stimulus measures as spurred by weaker Chinese economic performance.

“Nevertheless, further gains were capped by a stronger ringgit against the US dollar ahead of the outcome of the US Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) meeting later today,” she told Bernama.

She said oil prices rose on Wednesday, recovering as Israeli strikes against the Hezbollah group in retaliation for a weekend attack saw traders priced in a bigger risk premium into crude.

At the time of writing, Brent crude oil increased by 2.15 per cent to US$80.32 per barrel.

She noted that details of the June job openings report released showed that tightness in the US labour market continued to ease toward the pre-pandemic levels, likely giving the US Federal Reserve’s confidence a boost to begin cutting rates in September.

She added that according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, its manufacturing sector shrank as expected in July, with the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index falling to 49.4, contracting for a third consecutive month as domestic demand remained weak amid middling support from Beijing.

The Malaysian Rubber Board’s (MRB) price for Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR 20) increased by seven sen to 770.5 sen per kilogramme (kg) while latex-in-bulk rose 1.5 sen to 630 sen per kg.

At 5 pm, the MRB reference price for physical SMR 20 stood at 773 sen per kg while latex-in-bulk was at 630.5 sen per kg.

-- BERNAMA