The Hindu Business Line : Spot rubber weak on lack of buying support

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Kottayam Feb. 8 Domestic rubber prices weakened on Thursday. The market failed to track the positive global signals. RSS 4 moved down to Rs 99 from Rs 99.50 a kg at Kottayam. The grade closed unchanged at Rs 99.50 a kg at Kochi. The trend was mixed.

The lack of support from major consuming industries, mainly the tyre sector seemed to be putting immense pressure on traders and growers. Most of the players preferred to reduce their stocks even by 50 per cent, to play safe in a rather volatile market, sources said.

Futures decline

The rubber futures declined on profit booking and fresh selling at higher levels. The February contract on NMCE slipped to Rs 100.20 (Rs 101.48), March to Rs 102.81 (Rs 104.55), April to Rs 107.50 (Rs 109.82) and May to Rs 112.50 (Rs 114.06) per kg for RSS 4. The turnover was better at 4,611 (3,901) tonnes and open interest 14,316 (13,980) tonnes.

The March contract for RSS 4 weakened to Rs 103.20 a kg from Rs 104.65 a kg (311 tonnes) on MCX.

RSS 3 improved sharply to Rs 107.14 from Rs 104.04 a kg at Bangkok spot. The March futures for the grade closed better at 283.3 Yen (Rs 103.14) against 278 Yen a kg at TOCOM.

Spot rubber prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 99 (99.50); RSS-5: 96 (96); Ungraded: 94.25 (94.50); ISNR 20: 94 (94) and Latex 60 per cent: 65.75 (65.75).