SEOUL (Reuters) - Oil prices held steady on Wednesday despite signs of improving demand and a drawdown in U.S. crude inventories, as worries over the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic capped gains.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Asia stocks are likely to come under pressure on Wednesday, tracking declines on Wall Street while gold prices were buoyed by safe-haven demand as economic indicators pointed to more signs of recession.

U.S. oil prices continued rising early on Tuesday morning, the day on which the June contract expires, before falling slightly in what was a much smoother and uneventful trade compared to last month’s dramatic plunge into negative prices.

PUTRAJAYA, May 19 — The Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (RISDA) has announced a dividend payout totalling RM42.7 million for year 2019, to be disbursed to 31,436 smallholders nationwide.

MUMBAI – Rubber contracts on the Indian Commodity Exchange ended in the red today due to absence of demand from tyre makers and major bulk buyers, traders said.

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has reshaped the outlook by triggering the largest peacetime contraction in the global economy since the Great Depression. Uniquely in the postwar period, the pandemic is a shock to both demand and supply. This said, the reaction in commodity markets indicates that the loss in aggregate demand is more significant and offsets any disruptions to supply. As measured by our IHS Markit Materials Price Index (MPI), commodity prices are now projected to fall by more than 32% year over year (y/y) in the second quarter.