The Hindu Business Line : Rubber prices post moderate gains

Rubber prices continued to post moderate gains on Tuesday. Covering groups pushed up the market further, as the main marketing centres were reported to be experiencing acute short supply; quantum sellers too were absent.

RSS 4 improved to Rs 80.75 and Rs 81 a kg respectively at Kottayam and Kochi from Rs 80.25 and Rs 80.50 a kg on Monday.

A holiday in trend-setting Japanese markets kept the domestic sentiments almost neutral. A major change in trading volumes could be expected only from the beginning of April, an analyst said.

The rubber futures stayed in tune with spot prices on NMCE. The April contract was quoted at Rs 82.86 (Rs 82.52), May contract at Rs 85.49 (Rs 84.97), June contract at Rs 86.76 (Rs 86.60) and July contract at Rs 87.30 (Rs 87.08) a kg for RSS 4.

The near-month April Contract for the grade was traded at Rs 81.86 (Rs 81.55), and June contract at Rs 85.55 (Rs 84.19) a kg on MCX.

The NMCE volumes till midday stood at 463 lots recording 66 lots in April, 278 in May, 83 in June and 36 in July.

RSS 3 lost marginally by 17 paise to Rs 91.49 from Rs 91.66 a kg at the Bangkok spot.

The spot prices per kg were: RSS-4: Rs 80.75 (Rs 80.25); RSS-5: Rs 80 (Rs 79.50); Ungraded: Rs 79 (Rs 78.75); ISNR 20: Rs 79.75 (Rs 79.25)

and Latex 60% (per litre): Rs 56.50 (Rs 56.50).