Kuala lumpur: The Kuala Lumpur rubber market ended mixed on Tuesday, tracking weaker crude oil prices, a dealer said. He noted that oil prices fell as the pause in United States strikes on Iran raised hopes for a diplomatic solution and the normalisation of energy flows from West Asia, reducing support for rubber prices.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, at the time of writing, the Brent crude oil price was down 2.93 per cent to US$85.77 per barrel. The dealer highlighted that renewed US-China trade tensions also weighed down market sentiment. "Renewed US-China tariff tensions raised concerns over trade and global economic growth, weighing on rubber market sentiment," he told Bernama.

Nevertheless, further losses were partly cushioned by positive US economic data. "US core capital goods orders rose 0.9 per cent in June following a 1.9 per cent increase in May, signalling resilient business investment," he said.

At 3 pm, the price of Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR 20) rose one sen to 897.50 sen per kilogramme (kg), while latex in bulk dropped six sen to 706.50 sen per kg.