Groundnut Oil Rules Steady; Sugar, Metals Stay Mixed

Groundnut oil continued to rule steady at Rs 365 per 10 kg on moderate arrivals coupled with subdued consumer demand. The trading volume was quite thin and arrivals from overseas centres were moderate. Out-of-state orders indicated a modest trend.

Cottonseed oil washed and sesame oil declined by Rs 5 each to Rs 215 and Rs 375 per 10 kg, respectively. Linseed oil and rapeseed oil refined imported firmed up by Rs 5 and Rs 2 to Rs 330 and Rs 221 per 10 kg, respectively.

Imported palmolein improved by Rs 3 to Rs 193 per 10 kg.

Castorseeds March-2000 contract opened Rs 2 up at Rs 1,664 a quintal and improved to Rs 1,674. It declined to Rs 1,664 before closing at Rs 1,672 a quintal.

Castor oil international contract February-2000 remained untraded yesterday, while April-2000 opened overall steady at the previous level of Rs 372 per 10 kg.

Castorseeds Madras and Maharashtra ruled steady at Rs 1,635 and Rs 1,629 a quintal, respectively.

Kardiseeds eased by Rs 25 to Rs 1,150 a quintal on dull industrial interest, while nigerseeds looked up by Rs 25 to Rs 2,300 a quintal.

Other oilseeds ruled overall steady.

Sugar: A mixed trend was witnessed at wholesale sugar market here yesterday.

Small-grade sugar (S-30) improved to Rs 1,357-1,390 a quintal against its previous level of Rs 1,340-1,380.

However, medium-grade (M-30) softened to Rs 1,400-1,490 against the previous level of Rs 1,410-1,490 a quintal on dull offtake.

Sugar prices for check-post were also quoted low at Rs 1,335-1,355 a quintal for small grade and Rs 1,378-1,412 for the medium.

Non-ferrous metals: Nickel advanced further while other metals ruled easy-to-steady at the local market yesterday. Scraps metals ruled weaker than virgins. The demand was easy to subdued against normal supply position.

In scraps, copper utensils and brass utensils eased by 25 paise each to Rs 98 and Rs 86.50 a kg, respectively, on improved inflows of the ready stock, while brass sheetcuttings declined by 75 paise to Rs 92.75 a kg.

The other metals were quoted as under: copper heavy scraps Rs 115 and aluminium utensils Rs 68.75 a kg, respectively.

In virgins, nickel cathodes improved by Rs 3 to Rs 568 a kg on short supply against better industrial offtake. Zinc slabs declined by Re 1 to Rs 87.50 a kg on dull industrial demand.

Copper wirebar quoted at Rs 127.50, aluminium ingots Rs 90, lead ingots Rs 37 and tin slabs Rs 381 a kg, respectively.

Bullion: The Bombay Bullion Association remained officially closed yesterday on account of a token strike called by Pune-based Maharashtra Rajya Saraf Maha Mandal.