The Hindu Business Line : Rubber steady on demand

The rubber market was almost steady on Monday. The covering groups and purchase agents were cautious at higher levels as they preferred to wait for the revised quotes from the tyre sector.

Sheet rubber RSS 4 closed steady at Rs 83.50 a kg at Kottayam as on Saturday. The grade improved to Rs 83.75 from Rs 83.50 a kg at Kochi. The other gainer of the day was ungraded rubber, which improved by 25 paise on better demand from the general rubber goods sector.

According to sources, the market opened better but corrected marginally in the absence of follow-up buying.

Futures weak

The rubber futures continued to rule weak on NMCE followed by profit booking and fresh selling at higher levels. The April contract was quoted at Rs 84.43 (Rs 84.95), May at Rs 87.09 (Rs 87.48) June contract at Rs 88.25 (Rs 88.54) and July contract at Rs 88.16 (Rs 88.51) per kg for RSS 4.

The volumes totalled 1,932 lots with 283 lots in April, 1,190 lots in May, 364 lots in June and 95 lots in July till midday.

RSS 3 closed at Rs 91.71 against Rs 91.66 a kg at Bangkok spot. The April futures for the grade improved to 242.4 Yen (Rs 92.70) from 240.6 Yen at TOCOM.

Spot prices a kg were: RSS-4: Rs 83.50 (Rs 83.50); RSS-5: Rs 82.50 (82.50); ungraded: Rs 81.50 (Rs 81.25); ISNR 20: Rs 82.25 (Rs 82.25) and latex 60 per cent (a litre): Rs 57 (Rs 57)