Gold Better, Groundnut Oil Easy, Sugar Steady

Groundnut oil ruled easy on reduced demand coupled with better arrivals from upcountry centres yesterday. Industrial oils ruled easy to steady at the wholesale oils and oilseeds market in Turbhe, Navi Mumbai yesterday.

Imported palmolein ruled steady on modest arrivals. In the futures section, castorseeds March97 contract remained untraded, while June97 contract opened lower but improved towards closing.

Groundnut oil eased by Re 1 at Rs 341 per 10 kg on reduced offtake coupled with modest arrivals. The demand remained subdued. Arrivals were put around 120 tonnes a day.

In other oils, linseed oil improved by Rs 3 to Rs 300 per 10 kg on better industrial demand coupled with restricted inflows. Neem oil and karanji oil declined by Rs 5 and Rs 7 to Rs 180 and Rs 205 per 10 kg respectively on dull industrial demand and brisk arrivals. Copra oil white declined by Rs 30 at Rs 670 per 10 kg, while sunflower oil expeller eased by Re 1 at Rs 265 per 10 kg on dull demand.

Imported palmolein ruled steady on the whole at Rs 278 per 10 kg on slack offtake. Majority of the other oils ruled steady due to narrow movements.

In futures, castorseeds June97 contract opened Rs 2.50 lower at Rs 1210 and later shot up to Rs 1218 a quintal. It declined to Rs 1207 before closing at Rs 1215 a quintal on speculative shortcoverings.

In oilseeds, sesameseeds declined by Rs 25 at Rs 1725 quintal on reduced offtake. Castor seeds Madras and Maharashtra qualities declined by Rs 7 each to Rs 1114 and Rs 1108 per quintal respectively on dull industrial offtake. All other oilseeds ruled steady due to narrow movements.

Sugar: A steady to subdued trend was witnessed in sugar prices at the wholesale sugar market yesterday. The demand remained moderate against subdued inflows. The undertone of the market remained weak

Sugar S-30 grade eased to Rs 1265/1305 a quintal as against the previous level of Rs 1275/1305 a quintal on subdued demand and moderate arrivals. Sugar M-30 grade eased to Rs 1305/1379 from the previous level of Rs 1315/1375 a quintal on reduced offtake. Sugar for the check post deliveries was quoted at Rs 1240/1265 a quintal for S-30 grade and Rs 1265/1325 for the M-30 grade.

Non-ferrous metals: An easy to steady trend was noticed in the local non-ferrous market. Industrial demand remained slack and trade volume remained small.

In virgin section, aluminium ingots and zinc slabs eased by 50 paise each to Rs 74 and Rs 74.50 a kg respectively on dull demand and improved arrivals.

Other metals like copper wirebar, lead ingots, tin slabs and nickel cathodes ruled steady on the whole and were quoted nominally at Rs 133.50, Rs 45.25 and Rs 315 and Rs 373 a kg respectively on narrow movements.

In the scraps section, metals like copper heavy scraps, copper utensils, brass utensils, brass sheetcuttings and aluminium utensils ruled steady on narrow movements and were quoted at Rs 120.50, Rs 108.50, Rs 92, Rs 95 and Rs 59 a kg respectively.

Bullion: A divergent trend was noticed in the local bullion market. In precious metals, white metals suffered a setback while yellow metals ruled firm on better overseas market.

In white metals, silver .999 and .916 declined by Rs 100 and Rs 105 to Rs 7375 and Rs 7280 a kg on weak advices of London bullion market coupled with reduced demand and improved arrivals. The industrial offtake remained subdued in the local market. Delhi advices also indicated a weak trend.

In yellow metals, standard gold and 22-carat gold improved by Rs 35 and Rs 30 to Rs 4825 and Rs 4460 per 10 grams respectively on firm overseas advices coupled with better consumer demand. Gold biscuits also improved by Rs 400 Rs 56,400 per piece of 10 tolas.