The Hindu Business Line : Spot rubber prices decline

Kottayam, Oct. 24 Though the strike by the lorry owners was withdrawn around noon, the physical rubber prices failed to react quickly to the trend reversing news and closed weak on Wednesday. Sheet rubber declined to Rs 97.50 and Rs 98 a kg from Rs 99 and Rs 98.50 a kg respectively at Kottayam and Kochi.

The market made all round declines except in latex which was rather inactive and steady during the trading session. The prices fell amidst thin volumes, sources said.

Futures recover

The rubber futures opened weak and declined sharply towards mid-session but bounced back to the positive territory on fresh buying and short covering during the latter half of the day. The November contract for RSS 4 improved to Rs 99.20 (98.26), December to Rs 99.95 (98.54), January to Rs 100.05 (99.23) and February to Rs 101 (100.62) per kg on NMCE. The open interest was 4,548 (4,156) tonnes, while the volumes totalled 3,561 (2,043) tonnes. Meanwhile the November contract finished marginally weak at Rs 98 (98.42) a kg on MCX. RSS 3 improved by Rs 1.27 to Rs 95.55 a kg at Bangkok. Spot prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 97.50 (99); RSS-5: 95.50 (97); ungraded: 93.50 (94); ISNR 20: 93.75 (96) and latex 60 per cent: 63.50 (63.50).