The Hindu Business Line : Spot rubber rules steady

Kottayam, Jan. 23 Spot rubber closed unchanged on Wednesday. The domestic commodity markets failed to react in tune with a recovery in stock markets and RSS 4 concluded steady at Rs 93.75 and Rs 94 a kg respectively at Kottayam and Kochi after declining marginally to Rs 93.50 a kg on early trading.

The volumes were low. RSS 3 improved to ¥269.1 (Rs 100.54) at its February futures from ¥268 a kg at TOCOM. The grade’s spot was weak at Rs 103.31 (103.66) a kg at Bangkok.

Futures recoup

Rubber regained the initial losses to end almost steady on NMCE. The February futures was quoted at Rs 95.30 (95.24), March at Rs 97.20 (97.04), April at Rs 99.16 (99.04) and May at Rs 101.23 (101.42) per kg for RSS 4. The near month February downed the shutters at Rs 95.74 (95.36) a kg on MCX. The volumes on NMCE fell to 739 (1,324) lots trading 243 (524) lots in February, 226 (545) lots in March, 211 (181) lots in April and 59 (74) lots in May.

The open interest stood at 8,086 (8,125) tonnes. The outstanding positions were 4,164 (4,204) tonnes in February, 2,890 (2,935) tonnes in March, 907 (880) tonnes in April and 125 (106) tonnes in May.

Spot prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 93.75 (93.75); RSS-5: 91.50 (91.50); ungraded: 89.75 (89.75); ISNR 20: 90.50 (90.50) and latex 60 per cent: 59 (59).