The domestic rubber futures continued to remain subdued on Tuesday. RSS-4 weakened at its April contracts to Rs 116.44 (117.01) and May to Rs 116.83 (117.34) a kg on the Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX). The near-month April contracts were down by 0.49 per cent with a volume of 529 lots and total trade value of Rs 618.69 lakh. As per reports, sentiments in NR markets — both in the futures and spot — are dominated by the economic ripples from the Covid-19 outbreak and the dim prospects of the demand for NR since the last week of February. The market conditions worsened further during March reacting closely to the turbulence in global stocks and slump in crude oil prices. Usually, the global supply remains low during February and March every year, due to the annual wintering of rubber trees. But the low supply could not evoke any positive sentiments in the markets due to the much stronger and dominant influence of the pandemic. More specifically, NR market has remained insensitive to the low supply during February and March.