Rubber rates increase

Kottayam: The physical rubber rates increased on Aug 9. Sheet rubber increased to Rs 93 and Rs 93.50 a kg respectively at Kottayam and Kochi from Rs 92.50 a kg on brisk trading. The rubber futures displayed a better trend with the August contract for RSS 4 increasing to Rs 94.50 a kg against Rs 91.36 a kg on MCX. The August contract for the grade finished better at Rs 94.30 (93.67), September at Rs 86.80 (86.45), October at Rs 83.84 (83.25) and November at Rs 82.45 (81.92) per kg on NMCE. The open interest on NMCE was quoted at 6,445 (6,237) lots with 1,797 (1,889) lots in August, 2,877 (2,614) lots in September, 1,274 (1,247) lots in October and 497 (487) lots in November. The September futures for RSS 3 improved to 255.1 Yen (Rs 86.68) a kg against 253.7 Yen a kg at TOCOM. Spot prices were (Rs/kg): RSS-4: 93 (92.50); RSS-5: 90 (88.50); ungraded: 87 (86.50); ISNR 20: 89.50 (88.50) and latex 60 per cent: 61.05 (61.05).