Kuala Lumpur: The Kuala Lumpur rubber market ended higher today, supported by the uptrend in regional rubber futures markets, a dealer said. She indicated that the market was also influenced by expectations of more Chinese stimulus measures amid increased rubber demand from China.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, market traders were optimistic about the natural rubber (NR) statistics released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia. However, further gains were capped by rising concerns over United States (US)-China trade tensions and losses in crude oil prices.

The dealer noted that Japanese rubber futures rebounded after three days of losses due to improving demand in top consumer China and off-season production woes, which countered mounting trade war anxieties. She also pointed out that Malaysia's NR production decreased by 5.1 per cent in December 2024 to 38,299 tonnes, compared to 40,341 tonnes in November 2024. On a year-on-year basis, NR production increased by 26.2 per cent.

It was reported that downstream factories in China are gradually resuming work, and rubber purchasing is slowly increasing. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is expected to impose reciprocal tariffs on every country that charges duties on US imports as soon as Wednesday evening.

The Malaysian Rubber Board reported that at 3 pm, the price of Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR 20) surged by 14 sen to 911.5 sen per kilogramme (kg), while latex in bulk inched up by 1.5 sen to 690 sen per kg.