"There were some coverings by local players," said a dealer who expects the market to remain little changed unless strong demand appear.

"Buyers are basically not willing to commit themselves as they are able to go for cheaper rubbers in Indonesia."

In the absence of strong overseas demand, the market saw activity mainly on hand-to-mouth basis, dealers said.

They said tight supplies, due to the approaching rains in coming months also aided sentiment. "Producers are not selling actively for fear that stocks may be tight because of rains."

The market was closed on Monday to celebrate the success of the 16th Commonwealth Games.

At the close, the Malaysian Rubber Board quoted October SMR20 buyer at 229 cents (60 US cents) a kg, up 1.50 cents from Friday while October Int. Ones RSS buyer was up a cent at 264.

The INRO five-day moving average price was at 179.95Malaysian/Singapore cents a kg on September 25 against 179.09 on September 24, still within the organisation's "may-buy" range of 172 and 183 cents.

The daily indicator price stood at 181.08 cents against 180.98.