KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — The Malaysian rubber market continued to end mixed today amid mixed advice in the regional rubber futures markets despite the gains in the benchmark crude oil prices and China’s increasing fiscal spending to boost up their economy, a dealer said.
He said China’s fiscal spending rose seven per cent in the January-February period from a year earlier, accelerating from a 0.3 per cent rise in 2021 as policymakers stepped up support for the slowing economy.
Nevertheless, he said further gains were capped by the surge in new COVID-19 cases in China and the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) plan to call for a bigger rate hike to curb persistent inflation.
“The Fed officials are helping shape market expectations for sharper interest rate hikes to curb the surge in inflation but have not managed to dispel fears the tightening cycle could blow a hole in the economy and labour market,” he said.
The Malaysian Rubber Board’s (MRB) price for Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR 20) was up 2.5 sen at 719 sen a kilogramme (kg) while latex-in-bulk decreased half-a-sen to 661.5 sen per kg.
At 5 pm, MRB’s closing price for SMR 20 stood at 718.5 sen per kg while latex-in-bulk was at 661 sen per kg.
