Rubber trade slows down

Rubber trade slows down

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Trading in the Singapore rubber market
dried up yesterday due to uncertainty over what will happen next
in Southeast Asia's volatile financial markets, dealers said.

"The currency problems in the region drove people out of the
market. The Indonesians are not keen to sell. If the currency
turmoil continues, it'll be a really thin market again tomorrow,"
a dealer said.

The region has been pounded for weeks by speculative attacks
on its currencies. The Thai baht was the first to devalue and the
latest victim is the Indonesian rupiah.

The only activity seen was in RSS3 rubber. All other rubber
grades were untraded. "What we had this afternoon were some
people covering their shorts. That's it," a dealer said.