The Hindu Business Line : Panic sales pull down spot rubber

Kottayam, Aug. 14 Spot rubber suffered from another sharp setback on Tuesday. RSS 4 fell to Rs 85 and Rs 86 a kg respectively at Kottayam and Kochi from Rs 88 a kg on Monday. According to market circles, more and more growers are coming forward to sell their stock in the wake of a turn around in climate. Arrivals improved indicating the possibility of further declines while buyers kept a low profile. Major manufacturers were inactive.

Futures steady

The rubber futures finished almost steady following a recovery in August contracts which would expire on Wednesday. The August contract on NMCE finished at Rs 90.60 (90.55), September at Rs 82.25 (82.46), October at Rs 79.95 (79.80) and November at Rs 78.80 (78.60) per kg for RSS 4. The September contract for the grade ended at Rs 82.60 (82.79) a kg on MCX. The transactions totalled 3,036 (4,034) tonnes on NMCE. The open interest was 5,074 (5,579) tonnes with 290 (825) tonnes in August, 2,977 (2,963) tonnes in September, 1,288 (1,296) tonnes in October and 519 (495) tonnes in November. The September futures for RSS 3 weakened to 248.9 Yen (Rs 85.90) a kg from 249.8 Yen a kg at TOCOM. RSS 3 (spot) moved down by 22 paise to Rs 86.43 a kg at Bangkok.

Spot prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 85 (88); RSS-5: 82 (85.50); ungraded: 79 (82); ISNR 20: 82 (85) and latex 60 per cent: 58.95 (58.95).