Kuala lumpur: The Malaysian rubber market ended slightly higher despite a cautious market due to falling oil prices and weaker signals from regional rubber futures markets, a dealer said. She noted that oil prices fell on Friday as worries about fuel demand in the United States outweighed expectations that the year's first interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve would spur greater consumption.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, further losses were capped by hopes of further US monetary easing. At the time of writing, Brent crude oil inched down 0.61 per cent to US$67.08 per barrel. Meanwhile, the dealer mentioned that Japanese rubber futures fell on Friday and are set for a weekly loss, pressured by expectations of increased overseas supply despite pre-holiday restocking in China.

As of 3 pm, the Malaysian Rubber Board reported that the price of Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR 20) stood at 726.5 sen per kilogramme (kg), while latex-in-bulk inched up by half a sen to 578 sen per kg.