The Hindu Business Line : Spot rubber stays firm

Kottayam, Dec. 14 Sheet rubber weakened despite another firm closing in international markets. RSS 3 improved further at its January futures to ¥279.5 (Rs 97.80) from ¥276.5 a kg at TOCOM. The grade settled higher at Rs 97.88 (Rs 97.51) a kg at Bangkok. RSS 4 fell back to Rs 91 from Rs 91.50 a kg at Kottayam on buyer resistance while the grade continued to rule flat at Rs 91 a kg at Kochi.

Major manufacturers were active on the grade up to the quoted level. The trend was mixed as the remaining grades including latex finished flat lacking quantity sellers and according to observers the production is comparatively low since the days were too hot during the season and the sky was cloudy since a few days.

Futures improve

On NMCE, the December contracts expired at Rs 93 (Rs 93.14) a kg while the January futures improved to Rs 94.50 (Rs 93.78), February to Rs 96.08 (Rs 95.08) and March to Rs 97.75 (Rs 96.97) per kg for RSS 4.The January futures firmed up to Rs 94.70 from Rs 94.17 a kg on MCX. The open interest stood at 7,061 (7,132) tonnes with 502 (670) tonnes in December, 3,026 (3,125) tonnes in January, 2,573 (2,495) tonnes in February and 960 (842) tonnes in March on NMCE. The volumes totalled 1,293 (1,627) tonnes.

Spot prices per kg were: RSS-4: Rs 91 (Rs 91.50); RSS-5: Rs 88 (Rs 88); ungraded: Rs 86 (Rs 86); ISNR 20: Rs 87 (Rs 87) and latex 60 percent: Rs 60.50 (Rs 60.50).