Rubber Witnesses Steady Trend

Kottayam: Spot rubber ruled firm on April 2. Sheet rubber was flat at Rs 94 a kg both at Kottayam and Kochi as on March 31. The rubber futures completed weak on NMCE. The April contract declined to Rs 93.24 (93.38), May Rs 96.63 (96.87), June Rs 99.90 (100.06) and July to Rs 101 (100.31) a kg for RSS 4. The open interest was calculated at 12,665 (12,431) tonnes with 4,591 tonnes in April, 5,386 tonnes in May, 2,198 tonnes in June and 490 tonnes in July. The April delivery contract dropped to Rs 92.51 from Rs 92.58 a kg on MCX. The May futures for RSS 3 increased to 278.2 yen (Rs 102.11) from 275.2 yen a kg at TOCOM. The grade (spot) closed better by 90 paise at Rs 100.57 (99.67) a kg at Bangkok. The spot rubber rates per kg are as follows: RSS-4: 94 (94); RSS-5: 93 (93); Ungraded: 92 (92); ISNR 20: 92.75 (92.75); and Latex 60%: 64.70 (64.20).