The Hindu Business Line : Firm trend continues in rubber

The continuing up trend in spot rubber relaxed the sellers partially on Thursday. Tight supply concerns due to rains helped the prices to firm up, gaining strength from moderate covering purchases.

Major manufacturers were also active on sheet rubber, which improved to Rs 94.00 and Rs 94.50 respectively at Kottayam and Kochi against Rs 93.50 a kg on Wednesday. The market recorded all-round gains following improved demand.

Futures better

The NMCE rubber futures remained better even against disappointing TOCOM reports. The August contract was traded at Rs 95.80 (Rs 95.21), September contract at Rs 92.70 (Rs 92.34), October contract at Rs 90.60 (Rs 90.13) and November contract at Rs 90.85 (Rs 90.36) per kg for RSS 4. The September futures for RSS 3 declined to 275.3 Yen (Rs 111.99) a kg from 278.1 Yen a kg at TOCOM. The grade firmed up to Rs 111.87 from Rs 110.39 a kg at Bangkok.

Physical rubber prices per kg were: RSS-4: Rs 94 (Rs 93.50); RSS-5: Rs 92 (Rs 91); ungraded: Rs 90.00 (Rs 89); ISNR 20: Rs 91.50 (Rs 90.50) and latex 60 per cent: Rs 73.67 (Rs 73.67).