The Hindu Business Line : Spot rubber declines on global trend

Kottayam June 11 The opening session of the week witnessed a sharp bear strike in physical rubber prices. The international markets continued to rule weak putting further pressure on the raw material. According to observers the market is expected to soften further riding on weak technical and fundamental factors. Sheet rubber declined to Rs 82 and Rs 82.50 a kg respectively at Kottayam and Kochi from Rs 83.50 a kg on previous weekend. The market lacked proper buying support and there were also some import rumours hovering around persuading traders to press for sales even at lower levels.

Futures weak

The rubber futures slipped further quoting the July contract for RSS 4 at Rs 84.30 (85.78) a kg on MCX. The June contract for the grade moved down to Rs 81.60 (83.17), July to Rs 84.41 (86.01), August to Rs 85.44 (86.31) and September contract to Rs 83.60 (84.17) per kg on NMCE. The open interest was 7,877 (7,731) lots with 2,885 (2,928) lots in June, 3,348 (3,345) lots in July, 1,250 (1,120) lots in August and 394 (338) lots in September. The volumes were 3,360 (1,201) lots. RSS 3 moved down at its July futures to 271 Yen (Rs 90.99) from 273.1 Yen a kg at TOCOM. The grade (spot) was better by 7 paise at Rs 93.85 a kg at Bangkok.

Spot rubber prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 82 (83.50); RSS-5: 80.50 (82.50); Ungraded: 79.50 (81.50); ISNR 20: 80 (82.50) and Latex 60 per cent: 60 (60).