The Hindu Business Line : Spot rubber rules steady

Kottayam, Jan. 18 Sheet rubber continued to rule steady at Rs 94.75 a kg at Kottayam on Friday. The grade closed better by 50 paise at Rs 95 a kg at Kochi. According to market circles the transactions were extremely low in the absence of quantity buyers and sellers. The overall trend was mixed as ungraded rubber and latex improved by 50 paise on scattered transactions.

Futures decline

The February futures declined to ¥276.3 (Rs 101.19) from ¥278.4 a kg at TOCOM following the declines in gold and oil futures. RSS 3 inched up by 8 paise to Rs 103.87 against Rs 103.79 a kg at Bangkok. The February futures for RSS 4 finished at Rs 96.49 (96.51), March at Rs 98.49 (98.76), April at Rs 100.30 (100.67) and May at Rs 102.29 (102.50) a kg on NMCE. The grade was quoted at Rs 96.97 (96.77) a kg at its February futures on MCX. The open interest on NMCE was 8,315 (8,266) tonnes with 4,428 (4,410) tonnes in February, 2,917 (2,908) tonnes in March, 918 (904) tonnes in April and 52 (44) tonnes in May. The volumes fell sharply to 496 (922) tonnes trading 226 (502) tonnes in February, 163 (296) tonnes in March, 87 (99) tonnes in April and 20 (25) tonnes in May.

Spot prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 94.75 (94.75); RSS-5: 92 (92); ungraded: 90.50 (90); ISNR 20: 91.50 (91.50) and latex 60 per cent: 60.50 (60).