Jeera: Fundamental battle

COMMODITY SPIKES

Despite increase in offtake, jeera futures were caught in bearish territory last week. Analysts said the trend was likely to continue next week as well and the prices would be range bound.

At the Unjha market in Gujarat, the main delivery center, arrivals were reported to be close to 23,000 bags of 50-kg each. However, market sources said that demand from overseas and domestic markets was good and support a rally.

According to analysts, inflation figures and concerns of ban on commodity futures may not let prices of jeera rise despite strong fundamentals. Last week, the near-month contract opened weak but showed slight upward movement later.

However, it failed to sustain the levels in the later sessions of the week. The April contract, which expires next week, closed on Saturday at Rs 8,410 a quintal as against the previous week's closing of Rs 8,834.

Sources said that if buying momentum picks up next week, prices may boom. For the May contract, the support level is at Rs 8,600 a quintal and a resistance level of Rs 8,710 a quintal is seen on the National Commodity Derivatives Exchange next week.