Groundnut Oil Eases, Copper Rules Firm

Groundnut oil eased on subdued demand and modest arrivals. Other industrial oils indicated steady-to-better trend at the wholesale oils and oilseeds market in Navi Mumbai yesterday. Imported palmolein eased on improved arrivals.

In the futures, March 97 contract opened lower but firmed up towards closing, while June 97 contract remained untraded yesterday.

Groundnut oil eased by Re 1 at Rs 341 per 10 kg on reduced offtake coupled with easy demand. Arrivals are put at about 100/120 tonnes a day. In other oils, cottonseed oil washed and refined declined by Rs 2 each to Rs 278 and Rs 283 per 10 kg respectively on reduced industrial demand. Neem oil improved by Rs 5 at Rs 185 per 10 kg on better industrial demand while karanji oil eased by Rs 2 at Rs 183 per kg .

In the futures, March 97 contract opened Rs 3.50 lower at Rs 1158.50 and firmed up to Rs 1162.50 a quintal. It declined to Rs 1158.50 before closing at Rs 1159 on speculative buying. June contract remained untraded yesterday.

In oilseeds, castorseeds ready Madras and Maharashtra qualities declined by Rs 5 each to Rs 1099 and Rs 1093 per quintal respectively on reduced industrial demand.

Sugar: An easy to subdued trend was noticed at the wholesale sugar market yesterday. The demand overall remained dull and the market undertone was weak. Sugar small grade was quoted at Rs.1240/1265 as against of the previous level of Rs 1235/1270 a quintal while medium grade quoted Rs 1273/1360 as against the previous level of Rs 1273/1336 a quintal on narrow trading.

Non-ferrous Metals: Copper prices witnessed a firm trend yesterday while other metals ruled overall steady on narrow movements. The demand overall remained steady-to-subdued. The trade volume remained small.

Copper wire bars improved by 50 paise to Rs 128 a kg on better demand. All the other metals like aluminium ingots, zinc slabs, lead ingots, tin slabs and nickel cathodes ruled overall steady on narrow movments and were nominally quoted at Rs 72.50, Rs 67.50, Rs 45.50, Rs 344 and Rs 365 a kg respectively on moderate offtake.

Both copper heavy scraps and copper utensils firmed up by 50 paise to Rs 118 and Rs 105 a kg respectively on better industrial offtake. .. .

Bullion: An easy-to-downward trend was noticed in the local bullion market yesterday. Both the precious metals eased and the undertone of the market remained weak.

In white metals, silver.999 and .916 declined by Rs 10 each to Rs. 6995 and Rs 6895 per kg respectively on dull industrial demand coupled with better arrivals and weak overseas advices. Delhi advices also indicated an easy trend yesterday.

In yellow metals, standard gold and 22 carat advanced by Rs 30 each to Rs 4910 and Rs 4540 per kg respectively on reduced consumer demand coupled with weak overseas advices. Gold biscuits also declined by Rs 300 at Rs 57,400 per piece of 10 tolas on dull demand yesterday.