Gnut Oil Steady, Metals Calm, Sugar Edges Up

Groundnut oil held overall steady due to subdued demand and modest arrivals from the producing centres, whereas other industrial oils ruled better-to-steady at the wholesale oils and oilseeds market at Turbhe, Navi Mumbai yesterday.

In the futures section, castor seeds March'98 contract opened higher and advanced further towards the closing.

Groundnut oil was nominally quoted at Rs 352 per 10 kg. Arrivals from producing centres remained limited at around 90 tonnes a day.

Mowra oil declined by Rs 3 to Rs 245 per 10 kg on dull industrial offtake coupled with improved availability of ready stock. Ricebran oil and copra oil white improved by Rs 5 each to Rs 185 and Rs 545 per 10 kg respectively.

Imported palmolein eased by Re 1 at Rs 298 per 10 kg on subdued demand of imported oil. Meanwhile, majority of other oils ruled overall steady on narrow movements.

Castorseeds March'98 contract opened Rs 3.50 higher at Rs 1173 and firmed up to Rs 1175 a quintal.

It declined to Rs 1173 before closing at 1175 a quintal on speculative movements.

Sugar: :A firm-to-steady trend was noticed on subdued consumer offtake and limited arrivals here yesterday. Both the grades of sugar ruled slightly firm. The undertone remained dull.

S-30 edged up to Rs 1461/1486 against the previous level of Rs 1461/1481 a quintal on modest upcountry as well as local consumer demand coupled with subdued arrivals. M-30 looked up to Rs 1480/1531 as against the previous level of Rs 1480/1521 a quintal. Meanwhile, sugar for the check post deliveries were quoted low at Rs 1440/1460 a quintal for S-30 and Rs 1465/1500 for the M-30.

Non-ferrous metals :A steady to subdued trend was noticed in the local non-ferrous metals market yesterday. The demand remained dull. The undertone remained hesitant.

In virgin metals, copper wirebar edged up by 25 paise at Rs 115.25 a kg, on better industrial offtake. Meanwhile, all the other metals ruled totally quiet and were nominally quoted as under : aluminium ingots Rs 82, zinc slabs Rs 71.75, lead ingots Rs 39.50, tin slabs Rs 326 and nickel cathodes Rs 328 a kg. respectively on narrow movements.

In scraps, the were nominally quoted as under : copper heavy scraps Rs 105.50, copper utensils Rs 94.25, brass utensils Rs 82.50, brass sheetcuttings Rs 88 and aluminium utensils Rs 62.50 a kg respectively on narrow movements.

Bullion: The Bombay Bullion Association remained officially closed yesterday on account of Makar Sankranti.