Rubber Witnesses Up Trend

Kottayam: Spot rubber increased sharply on March 23. Sheet rubber RSS 4 increased to Rs 93 from Rs 90 a kg at Kottayam and Kochi. The under current was extremely bullish as covering groups and buyers from the futures markets turned aggressive. The rubber futures maintained to make handsome gains in leading commodity exchanges. On MCX, the April contract was traded at Rs 95.16 against Rs 94.33 a kg for RSS 4. The grade improved at its April contract to Rs 94.23 (92.65), May Rs 98.25 (96.93), June Rs 101.43 (99.96) and July to Rs 103.35 (101.78) a kg on NMCE. The volumes totalled 3,490 (3,031) tonnes. The April futures for RSS 3 closed at 268.2 yen (Rs 99.22) against 267.9 yen a kg at TOCOM. Spot rubber prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 93 (90); RSS-5: 92.50 (89.50); Ungraded: 91.50 (88.50); ISNR 20: 92 (89) and Latex 60 per cent: 64.20 (64.20).