Rubber prices firm on Indonesia woes

Rubber prices firm on Indonesia woes

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Singapore rubber futures ended yesterday slightly firmer after a light day's trade dampened by continued fears over crisis-torn Indonesia.

"Indonesia has basically kept everybody out of the market," a dealer with a local brokerage said.

The virtual shutdown of Indonesia's financial markets and fears strikes could spread to major rubber production centers kept traders sidelined, dealers said.

In RSS3 futures, only the August contract was traded with just 200 lots changing hands to gain U.S. 0.50 cent a kg to 77.25 cents a kg.

Very thin trade on RSS1 rubber saw the August contract unchanged at Singapore 125.50 cents a kg on volume of 100 lots, the July contract gained one Singapore cent to 126 a kg on volume of 175 lots, and the September contract lost 1.25 cents to 126 cents a kg on volume of 125 lots.

Activity on TSR20 rubber was also muted. The July contract rose U.S. 1.25 cents to 76.25 cents a kg and the September contract gained U.S. 1 cent to 77.50 cents a kg, both on volume of 400 lots.