Rubber market seen taking a breather

The Malaysian rubber market is likely to take a breather next week after a five-day rally, with the prices continued to scale to record high, dealers said.
A dealer said the prices, which were currently traded at their highest levels since 1972, would trigger profit-taking.
Another dealer, however, said the market could hold steady even after correction because strong demand was outpacing limited supply and relatively firm oil prices.
"It is difficult to judge the market's direction next week with investors growing wary of the recent rapid pace of gains, while on the other hand physical supply remained tight," he said.

He said the market would also closely monitor the trends on the Tokyo rubber futures and Shanghai rubber futures market.
During the week just-ended, the rubber prices remained firm.
The market rallied for five consecutive days, supported by strong buying from major tyre makers and limited supply.
On a Thursday-to-Friday basis, the Malaysian Rubber Board's official physical seller price for tyre-grade SMR 20 surged 55.5 sen to 1,552.5 per kg from 1,497 sen last week.
The latex in bulk dipped one sen to 985 sen per kg from 986 sen previously.
The unofficial seller closing price for tyre-grade SMR 20 jumped 50.5 sen to 1,551.5 sen per kg from 1,501 sen last week, while latex in bulk slipped three sen to 982.5 sen per kg from 985.5 sen previously.
(Source:  Rubber market seen taking a breather http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20110108125627/Article/index_html#ixzz1AQeGOI7m)