The Hindu Business Line : Spot rubber prices unchanged

Kottayam April 23 Spot rubber closed unchanged on Monday. Though a weak closing in international rubber kept the domestic sentiments under pressure, the physical market resisted to decline in the absence of sellers, sources said.

RSS 4 finished flat at Rs 86.75 and Rs 86.50 a kg respectively at Kottayam and Kochi and it was also reported that there were marginal buying at lower levels from major manufacturers. Expectations for a near term revival strengthened followed by the Rubber Board Chairman's statement to boost exports as the gap between the local and overseas prices remained comfortable.

Futures decline

The rubber futures declined surrendering Saturday's speculative gains on NMCE. The May contract fell to Rs 87.50 (88.38), June to Rs 90.60 (91.78), July to Rs.92.90 (94.08) and August contract to Rs 92.99 (93.92) per kg for RSS 4. The May contract weakened to Rs 88.60 a kg from Rs 89.05 on MCX. The volumes on NMCE totalled 1,712 (1,078) tonnes, while the open interest was quoted at 10,266 (10,136) tonnes with 5,147 lots in May, 3,641 lots in June, 1,245 lots in July and 233 lots in August. The May futures for RSS 3 moved down to 271.2 Yen (Rs 95.51) a kg from 274.7 Yen at TOCOM. Its spot settled weak at Rs 99.41 from Rs 100.77 a kg at Bangkok.

Spot prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 86.75 (86.75); RSS-5: 85.50 (85.50); ungraded: 84.75 (84.75); ISNR 20: 85.25 (85.25) and Latex 60 per cent: 63.65 (63.65).