Spot rubber closed unchanged on Friday. RSS 4 continued to rule steady at Rs 130 and Rs 129 per kg, respectively, according to traders and the Rubber Board. The grade finished flat at Rs 125 per kg, according to dealers.

Sentiment remained positive as covering buyers bought sheet rubber up to Rs 130.50 per kg from the local trading houses in early trades. But the absence of quantity buyers from the major consuming industries kept the commodity under pressure during the closing hours and it lost its direction amidst scattered transactions.

According to reports, the gross NR export for ITRC member countries during the first half of 2019 was 492,000 mt (10.60 per cent) lower than the same period in 2018, while the gross of NR export for the other producing countries increased around 106,000 mt (11.56 per cent). There is a high possibility that the estimated NR production for ITRC Member Countries fell as much as 800,000 mt in 2019.

In futures, the November contracts improved to Rs 128.17 (127.50), while the December contracts slid to Rs 127.47 (128.08) and January to Rs 129.06 (130.02) per kg on the Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX).

RSS 3 (spot) inched up to Rs 107.98 (107.74) per kg in Bangkok. The November futures weakened to Rs 107.15 (107.84), December to Rs 109.53 (110.03) and January to Rs 111.52 (112.02) per kg on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM).

The spot rubber rates (Rs/kg) were: RSS-4: 130.00 (130.00); RSS-5: 127.00 (127.00); ISNR 20: 118.50 (118.50); and Latex (60% drc): 91.50 (91.50)

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