The Hindu Business Line : Spot rubber in narrow range

Kottayam, Dec. 17 The domestic rubber prices continued to move in a narrow range on Monday. The chances for a short term recovery expired as the climate took a most favourable turn for latex production. Sheet rubber slipped to Rs 91.25 and Rs 91 a kg respectively at Kottayam and Kochi from Rs 91.50 a kg on scattered transactions. The trend was mixed. RSS 3 improved at its January futures to ¥280.9 (Rs 97.93) from ¥279.5 a kg at TOCOM.

The grade’s spot closed at Rs 98.43 (97.88) a kg at Bangkok. A partial surrendering of the profits towards close in the trend setter kept the traders under vigil and most of them were hesitant to create fresh positions fearing the fall to continue on Tuesday. The January futures for RSS 4 finished almost steady at Rs 94 against Rs. 94.38 a kg on MCX. The LTP for the January futures was quoted at Rs 93.70 (94.48), February at Rs 95.29 (95.99), March at Rs 96.65 (97.53) and April at Rs 98.30 (99.13) per kg on NMCE The volumes were 1,119 (534) tonnes while the open interest was 6,927 (7,193) tonnes. The outstanding positions were 3,121 (3,087) tonnes in January, 2,746 (2,656) tonnes in February, 1,026 (984) tonnes in March and 34 tonnes in April.

Spot prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 91.25 (91.50); RSS-5: 88 (88); ungraded: 86.50 (86.25); ISNR 20: 87 (87) and latex 60 per cent: 60.50 (60.50).