Agri volumes up on bourses in evening session

Volumes of agricultural commodities jumped on commodity exchanges in evening trade on Tuesday, the first day of such evening trade. This followed the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) allowing derivatives trade in 10 agricultural commodities till 11:30 pm so that it could coincide with the trade in international markets.

For most agricultural commodities, far-month contracts have seen a rise in volumes compared to near-month contracts. Contracts set to expire in June have garnered more volumes than April and May contracts.

On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), total volumes for agricultural commodities in the evening session stood at Rs 552 crore, against Rs 3,960 during the day session.

On the Multi-Commodity Exchange, the volume for agricultural commodities during the day session was Rs 554 crore; in the evening session, it was Rs 122 crore.

On NCDEX, May contracts of refined soya oil saw the highest rise (72 per cent) after 5 pm. Other agricultural commodities that saw significant rises in volumes were June contracts of cotton, crude palm oil, sugar and maize and July contracts of cotton oil seed cake.

On MCX, June contracts of crude palm oil and cotton saw a rise in volumes in the evening session.

After a commodity transaction tax was imposed on non-agricultural and processed agricultural commodities, the commodity market saw volumes decline.

Commodity market traders say evening trade will help them take better trading decisions, the trade will coincide with commodity trade in international markets. “The move has been well received by the market and we have seen volumes move positively last night. Traders can use risk management to respond to volatility in intentional markets. We expect participation to improve in the coming months,” said Vijay Kumar, chief business officer, NCDEX.

Naveen Mathur, associate director at city-based Angel Broking, said, “This is a positive move by the FMC, as it will help boost the otherwise dull sentiment in Indian commodity markets.”

As refined soybean oil, crude palm oil, sugar and maize are the major commodities traded globally, these are likely to see a huge rise in volumes.