The Hindu Business Line : Sheet rubber prices decline

Physical rubber prices weakened on Friday. The players seemed to be nervous and bit more cautious listening to rumours and news on imports which might have serious implications on the market.

RSS 4 declined to Rs 96 a kg against Rs 97 and Rs 96.50 a kg respectively at Kottayam and Kochi. According to sources, most of the traders held excess stocks and they could not absorb more rubber due to financial constrains.

Futures weak

The futures market resumed the downtrend catalysed by a weak TOCOM. On NMCE, the January contract moved down to Rs 97 (Rs 98.72), February to Rs 99 (Rs 100.43), March to Rs 101.05 (Rs 102.80) and April contract to Rs 103.93 (Rs 105.08) per kg for RSS 4. The transactions totalled 5,432 (4,934) lots and open interest 10,249 (9,698) lots. On MCX, the February contract for RSS 4 slipped to Rs 99.30 (349 lots) against Rs 100.76 a kg on Thursday.

The February futures for RSS 3 weakened to 243.8 yen (Rs 90.21) against 246.6 yen a kg at TOCOM. But the grade improved sharply to Rs 90.71 a kg from Rs 87.95 at Bangkok spot.

The per kg spot rubber prices were: RSS-4: Rs 96 (Rs 97); RSS-5: Rs 92 (Rs 93); ungraded: Rs 87.50 (Rs 88); ISNR 20: Rs 89 (Rs 90) and Latex 60 per cent: Rs 64.20 (Rs 65.25).