Rubber witnesses steady trend

Kottayam: The physical rubber prices were almost firm on July 23. Sheet rubber RSS 4 closed at Rs 81.50 a kg both at Kottayam and Kochi as on the previous weekend. The rubber futures finished slightly down quoting the August contract at Rs 80.60 (81.21) a kg on MCX. On NMCE, the August contract declined to Rs 81.73 (82.15), September to Rs 80.10 (80.62), October contract to Rs 79.86 (80.50) and November to Rs 79.88 (80.30) per kg for RSS 4. The August futures for RSS 3 closed at 256.6 Yen (Rs 85.51 ) against 257.5 Yen a kg at TOCOM. But the grade improved by 86 paise to Rs 84.74 from Rs 83.88 a kg at Bangkok. Spot rates were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 81.50 (81.50); RSS-5: 80 (80); ungraded: 77.50 (78); ISNR 20: 79.50 (79.50) and latex 60 per cent: 58.40 (58.40).