Bullion, Sugar, Metals Ease; Groundnut Oil Steady

Groundnut oil continued to rule steady at Rs 365 per 10 kg on moderate arrivals coupled with subdued consumer demand.

The trading volume was quite thin.

Sesame oil and soy oil refined declined by Rs 5 and Rs 2 to Rs 370 and Rs 220 per 10 kg, respectively.

Ricebran oil eased by Re 1 at Rs 126 per 10 kg. Imported palmo-

lein softened by Rs 2 at 192 per 10 kg.

Castorseeds contract March-2000 opened Rs 3 higher at Rs 1,668 a quintal and firmed up to Rs 1,670.

It declined and closed to Rs 1,664 a quintal.

Castor oil international contract Feb-2000 remained untraded yesterday, while April-2000 opened Rs 2 down at Rs 372 per 10 kg yesterday and ruled steady at the same levels towards closing.

Castorseeds Madras and Maharashtra qualities ruled overall steady to Rs 1,645 and Rs 1,639 a quintal, respectively. Nigerseeds looked up further by Rs 50 to Rs 2,400 a quintal.

Other oilseeds ruled overall steady.

Sugar: An easy-to-subdued trend witnessed at the Turbhe wholesale sugar market at Navi Mumbai. Sugar of both the grades ruled subdued.

Small-grade sugar (S-30) improved further to Rs 1365-1,400 a quintal from Rs 1,365-1,395. Medium-grade (M-30) softened to Rs 1,405-1,500 from Rs 1,410-1,500 a quintal. Consumer demand was modest. Sugar prices for check-post were also quoted low at Rs 1,355-1,370 a quintal for the small grade and Rs 1,395-1,450 for the medium grade.

Non-ferrous metals: An easy-to-steady trend witnessed yesterday. Copper eased, while metals in both the sections ruled overall steady in the non-ferrous metals at the local market yesterday.

The demand was easy to subdued against normal supply position.

Other metals ruled overall steady and were nominally quoted as under: aluminium ingots Rs 90.00, zinc slabs Rs 87.50, lead ingots Rs 37.00, tin slabs Rs 381 and nickel cathodes Rs 568 a kg, respectively.

In scraps, all the metals ruled overall steady and were nominally quoted as under: copper heavy scraps Rs 115.00, copper utensils Rs 98.00, brass utensils Rs 86.50, brass sheet-cuttings Rs 92.75 and aluminium utensils Rs 68.75 a kg, respectively.

Bullion: An easy trend was noticed in precious metals prices at the local bullion market yesterday. Both the precious metals ruled dull.

Silver .999 eased by Rs 25 at Rs 8,215 a kg, while silver .916 ruled steady at Rs 8,100 a kg.

Standard gold and 22 carat gold prices weakened by Rs 20 each to Rs 4,780 and Rs 4,420 per 10 gm, respectively. Gold biscuits prices declined by Rs 300 at Rs 55,900 per piece.