The Hindu Business Line : Mixed trend in spot rubber

Kottayam, Dec. 21 A mixed trend was observed in physical rubber on Friday. Sheet rubber finished unchanged at Rs 92 and Rs 92.50 a kg respectively at Kottayam and Kochi as on Thursday. RSS 5 and Ungraded rubber firmed up on strong enquiries from the non tyre sector. The market was in a holiday mood and the activities were expected to be in a low pace during the Xmas days till New Year.

The January futures for RSS 3 finished marginally higher at 284.5 Yen (Rs 98.84) from 284.1 Yen a kg at TOCOM while all its succeeding contracts ended in the negative territory. The grade downed the shutters at Rs 99.10 (98.93) a kg at Bangkok.

Futures improve

The rubber futures improved on NMCE. The January contracts firmed up to Rs 95.74 (94.99), February to Rs 97.60 (96.66), March to Rs 99.13 (98.03) and April to Rs 100.50 (99.74) per kg for RSS 4.The volumes were better at 1,353 (924) lots. The open interest was 7,364 (7,196) tonnes with 2,963 (2,927) tonnes in January, 3,137 (3,008) tonnes in February, 1,099 (1,145) tonnes in March and 165 (116) tonnes in April.

Spot prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 92 (92); RSS-5: 89.50 (88.50); ungraded: 88.50 (87.50); ISNR 20: 88 (87.50) and latex 60 per cent: 60.50 (60.50).