Gnut Oil Steady, Metals Quiet, Gold Eases

A quiet trend in groundnut oil was noticed. Other industrial oils ruled better-to-steady at the wholesale oils and oilseeds market, Turbhe, Navi Mumbai yesterday. Imported palmolein also ruled easy on restricted demand.

In futures section, castorseeds March98 contract opened higher and firmed up towards closing.

Groundnut oil held overall steady and was nominally quoted at Rs 369 per 10 kg on narrow movements. In other oils, linseed oil and mowra oil improved by Rs 5 each to Rs 340 and Rs 240 per 10 kg respectively on improved industrial offtake coupled with limited availability of ready stock. Sesame oil and copra oil white declined by Rs 5 each to Rs 355 and Rs 585 per 10 kg respectively on dull offtake. Imported palmolein eased by Rs 2 at Rs 300 per 10 kg.

Castorseeds Madras and Maharashtra qualities improved by Rs 14 each to Rs 1,224 and Rs 1,218 a quintal. Meanwhile, all the other oilseeds ruled overall steady on narrow movements.

Sugar: A mixed trend was noticed in sugar prices on subdued consumer offtake and limited arrivals at Turbhe, Navi Mumbai yesterday. Small grade sugar ruled easy, while medium grade firmed up.

Sugar S-30 grade eased too Rs 1,461/1,484 from the previous level of Rs 1,465/1,501 a quintal on subdued consumer demand coupled with moderate arrivals. Sugar M-30 grade recovered to Rs 1,491/1,530 as against the previous level of Rs 1,486/1,521 a quintal. Sugar for check-post deliveries was quoted at Rs 1,445/1,460 a quintal for S-30 grade and Rs 1,470/1,485 for the M-30 grade.

Non-ferrous metals: An easy-to-steady trend was witnessed in the local non-ferrous metals market yesterday.

In virgin metals, copper wirebar declined by Re 1 at Rs 116 a kg on reduced industrial interest coupled with better availability of the ready stock.

All the other metals ruled quiet and were quoted as under: aluminium ingots Rs 82, zinc slabs Rs 72.50, lead ingots Rs 39.50, tin slabs Rs 327 and nickel cathodes Rs 325 a kg respectively.

In scraps section, copper utensils, brass utensils and brass sheet-cuttings softened by 25 paise each to Rs 94.50, Rs 82.50 and Rs 88.25 a kg respectively. Meanwhile, all the other metals ruled overall steady and were nominally quoted as under: copper heavy scraps Rs 106 and aluminium utensils Rs 62.50 a kg.

Bullion: Gold 24 carat opened Rs 15 lower at Rs 3,980 per 10 gramme yesterday amid sluggish demand and fresh selling. Gold was down Rs 35 per 10 gramme on Wednesday.

The market was closed on Thursday. Gold biscuit (116.64 gramme) opened Rs 100 lower at Rs 46,600 per piece after losing Rs 500 on Wednesday.

Silver (.999) opened Rs 155 lower to Rs 8,145 per kg against the previous close of Rs 8,300 on the back of increased arrivals of raw silver. Silver was down by Rs 90 per kg on Wednesday.