Natural Rubber (NR) production decreased by 14.8 per cent in September 2025 (26,647 tonnes) as compared to August 2025 (31,285 tonnes). Year-on-year comparison showed that the production of NR decreased by 16.3 per cent (September 2024: 31,847 tonnes). Production of NR in September 2025 for Malaysia was mainly contributed by smallholders sector (85.2%) as compared to estates sector (14.8%).

Most Asian stocks rose on Wednesday with Hong Kong shares rebounding sharply on strength in local technology names, while losses in Softbank Group, after it sold its entire stake in Nvidia, hampered Japan’s Nikkei index.

Oil prices fell slightly in Asian trade on Wednesday, taking limited support from increasing signs that an end to the longest ever U.S. government shutdown was at hand. 

The dollar eased on Wednesday after private-sector U.S. jobs data stoked worries about the health of the labour market, with investors also bracing for an imminent U.S. government reopening that is expected to unleash a backlog of economic releases.

The U.S. Senate on Monday approved a compromise that would end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, breaking a weeks-long stalemate that has disrupted food benefits for millions, left hundreds of thousands of federal workers unpaid and snarled air traffic.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the government could have to pay back more than $2 trillion in tariff revenue and investments, if the Supreme Court rules that the duties are illegal.