KOTTAYAM, DEC 20:
Spot rubber lost further on Thursday. Declines in the domestic futures and the absence of genuine buyers kept the commodity under pressure during the day.
Meanwhile, the Key TOCOM rubber futures also turned weak as crude oil and global stocks dropped after the talks to avoid a fiscal crisis in the US failed to materialise.
Sheet rubber surrendered to Rs 159.00 (Rs 161.00) a kg according to traders.
The grade moved down to Rs 160.00 (Rs 162.00) a kg both at Kottayam and Kochi as reported by the Rubber Board.
The trend was partially mixed.
The January series declined to Rs 158.40 (Rs 161.87), February to Rs 160.65 (Rs 164.23) and March to Rs 162.99 (Rs 166.91) a kg while the April, May and June series remained inactive on the National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE).
RSS 3 (spot) slipped to Rs 173.32 (Rs 173.82) a kg at Bangkok.
The December futures expired at ¥267.5 (Rs 174.78) a kg while the January futures dropped to ¥268.1 (Rs 175.17) from ¥272.7 a kg during the day session but then finished unchanged in the night session on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM).
The spot rubber rates Rs/kg are: RSS-4: 159.00 (161.00); RSS-5: 153.00 (155.00); Ungraded: 147.00 (149.00); ISNR 20: 149.00 (150.00) and Latex 60%: 105.00 (105.00).
Source: Business Line