Driven by bullion trade especially in the second fortnight of February, the turnover of the commodity exchanges in the country rose by 29 per cent to Rs 46.44 lakh crore in the current fiscal till last month.

It was Rs 35.95 lakh crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

The FMC, which releases data every fortnight, said that futures trading in three national level commodity exchanges and 19 regional bourses stood at Rs 2,51,093 crore during the second fortnight of February, up by 19.86 per cent, compared with the year-ago period.

During February 16-28, the turnover of the leading exchange MCX stood at Rs 2,24,364 crore, while the leading agri-commodity bourse NCDEX recorded a business of Rs 18,765 crore. Other national level exchange Ahmedabad-based NMCE reported a turnover of Rs 4,476 crore.

Among the regional bourses, the Indore-based National Board of Trade, which basically deals in soya oil showed an impressive turnover of Rs 2,022 crore in the second fortnight of February.

Of the traded commodities at the MCX, gold, silver and crude oil recorded the highest volume, FMC data said.

The near month contract (April 2009) in gold quoted at its highest at Rs 16,040 per 10 gram on February 20 and the total value of trade in all gold contracts was Rs 1,26,700 crore. Silver turnover at the MCX was Rs 44,158 crore while crude oil trading was Rs 33,162 crore.

At the NCDEX, soyabean, turmeric and gaur seed had the highest volumes of trade. Soyabean trading surpassed the guar seed with a turnover of Rs 4,104 crore. Guar seed recorded a business of Rs 2,261 crore.

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