The Hindu Business Line : Spot rubber rules steady

Kottayam, Nov. 22 Spot rubber finished unchanged on Thursday. The market sustained at the quoted levels since the international rubber prices finished slightly higher after a weak start, sources said. In the domestic scene, RSS 4 closed at Rs 94 a kg at Kottayam but the grade shed 50 paise and declined to Rs 93.50 a kg at Kochi on buyer resistance. RSS 3 improved at its December futures to 262.5 (Rs 95.12) yen from 260.5 yen a kg at TOCOM and to Rs 96.14 from Rs 95.89 a kg at Bangkok spot. The global indices were led by strong oil prices.

Futures recover

The rubber futures opened weak but recovered later in tune with the Japanese markets to finish in green on NMCE. The December contract downed the shutters at Rs 94.40 (94.10), January at Rs 96.39 (96.03), February at Rs 97.87 (97.75) and March at Rs 99.21 (99.15) per kg for RSS 4.The volumes totalled 1,739 (2,491) tonnes and open interest 4,456 (4,329) tonnes. The outstanding positions were 1,543 (1,607) tonnes in December, 1,632 (1,517) tonnes in January, 1,097 (1,056) tonnes in February and 184 (149) tonnes in March. The December contract concluded at Rs 94 (95.26) a kg on MCX.

Spot prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 94 (94); RSS-5: 90.50 (90.50); ungraded: 84 (84); ISNR 20: 90 (90) and latex 60 per cent: 63 (63).