Groundnut Oil Eases Anew, Sugar Subdued

Groundnut oil prices eased further due to reduced demand and brisk arrivals from producing centres at the wholesale oils and oilseeds market, Turbhe, Navi Mumbai yesterday. Market activities have already resumed and will take a day or two to be normal. Imported palmolein continued to rule easy on reduced demand. In the futures section, castorseeds June97 contract opened higher and firmed up towards the closing. Groundnut oil eased further by Re1 at Rs 358 per 10 kg on subdued demand against improved availability.

Linseed and cottonseed oil (washed) declined by Rs 2 each to Rs 288 and Rs 277 per 10 kg respectively on reduced industrial demand. Neem oil firmed up by Rs 5 to Rs 190 on better industrial demand. Imported palmolein declined by Rs 5 at Rs 285 per 10 kg on improved availability. A majority of other oils ruled steady on the whole due to narrow movements. In the futures section, castorseeds June97 contract opened Rs 1.50 higher at Rs 1171 and firmed to Rs 1173 a quintal. It declined to Rs 1168.50 before closing at Rs 1171.50 a quintal on shortcoverings.

Kardiseeds bold improved by Rs 10 at Rs 1100 a quintal on better industrial demand. Niger Madras also firmed up by Rs 15 to Rs 1375 a quintal on improved offtake against limited arrivals. All the other oilseeds ruled steady due to narrow movements.

Sugar: An easy to subdued trend was witnessed at the wholesale sugar market. The market sentiment was weak due to improved arrivals of stock. The undertone also remained weak. Sugar S-30 grade was traded at Rs 1315/1365 a quintal, while M-30 grade was quoting at Rs 1375/1425 a quintal. Sugar for check-post deliveries was quoted at Rs 1270/1280 a quintal for S-30 grade and Rs 1300/1360 a quintal for M-30 grade.

Non-ferrous metals: A steady trend was noticed in the local non-ferrous metals market. Industrial demand remained subdued. The trade volume was also small. However, the undertone of the market remained firm but prices remained unchanged.

In the scraps section, copper heavy scraps was quoting at Rs 122, copper utensils at Rs 109.75, brass utensils at Rs 92.75, brass sheetcuttings at Rs 96.75 and aluminium utensils at Rs 59.50 a kg on subdued industrial offtake and narrow movements.

In the virgin section, copper wirebars were quoting at Rs 135, aluminium ingots at Rs 74.50, zinc slabs at Rs 78.50, lead ingots at Rs 45.50, tin slabs at Rs 316 and nickel cathodes at Rs 368 per kg on subdued industrial demand.

Bullion: A divergent trend was noticed in the local bullion market. Silver eased, while gold ruled steady on the whole. The demand remained moderate to subdued. The undertone of the market was shaky. In white metals, silver.999 and .916 eased by Rs 5 each to Rs 7025 and Rs 6925 a kg on subdued industrial demand coupled with weak overseas advices. Delhi advices also indicated a weak trend.

Standard gold and 22-carat gold both ruled steady at the previous levels of Rs 4,795 and Rs 4,435 per 10 grammes respectively on moderate offtake coupled with subdued arrivals. Overseas advices for gold showed an easy trend. Gold biscuits ruled steady at Rs 56,100 per piece of 10 tolas on reduced consumer offtake.