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Malaysian rubber

KUALA LUMPUR: Rubber prices extended Wednesday's losses at the close on lack of demand and poor lead from Tokyo, dealers said.

"It is another quiet day with buyers still holding back on speculation of lower levels," a dealer said. "Buyers have been turning their interest to Thailand and Indonesia because of cheaper prices there."

"But producers are getting tired of waiting for consumers. They have been quoting low prices but no buying was seen," the dealer said.

"There is basically not much interest either from Asia or Europe," he said.

There were reports of shortage of raw materials because of rain in some growing areas, dealers said.

Dealers were offering SMR CV at 394 cents, SMR L at 374 cents and SMR 10 at 323 cents, for April/May shipment.

At the close, May RSS 1 buyer and SMR 20 buyer were both down half a cent at 364.50 cents ($1.46) and 326 cents a kg respectively.-Reuter