Spot rubber extended the gains on Thursday. RSS4 firmed up to ₹170.00 (₹169.00) and ₹169.50 (₹168.50) per kg respectively according to traders and the Rubber Board. The commodity hit an intraday high of ₹171.00 a kg as an acute shortage of the raw material kept the buyers on their toes during late trading hours.

“There is a steady rise in demand mainly for RSS grades since those who are active in market are conscious about the sharp decline in production and arrivals since the begining of February this year”, a trader said.

“Most dealers are building up stock piles anticipating a consecutive rise in prices. Even the tyre makers are buying from the domestic markets  despite having sufficient imported rubber in their warehouses for the time being.”

  In futures, the most active March contracts were up 2.74 percent from last day’s settlement price to close at ₹174.00 per kg with a volume of 24 lots on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX).    RSS3 (spot) slid to ₹170.48 (₹170.49) per kg at Bangkok. SMR20 improved to ₹140.72 (₹140.27) while Latex declined to ₹130.83 (₹132.52) per kg at Kualalumpur.   The natural rubber contract for the May 2022 delivery was down 5 Yuan from previous day’s settlement price to close at 14.04 Yuan (₹169.78) per kg with a volume of  283,761 lots in daytime trading on Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE).    Spot rubber rates (Rs/kg) were: RSS4: ₹170.00 (₹169.00), RSS5: ₹167.50 (₹167.00), ISNR20: ₹162.00 (₹161.00) and Latex (60% drc): 124.00 (122.50)

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