Groundnut Oil, Sugar Rule Easy; Bullion Divergent

Groundnut oil eased further at higher levels on subdued offtake coupled with better arrivals from the producing centres, while other industrial oils ruled easy-to-steady at the local wholesale oils and oilseeds market yesterday. Imported palmolein ruled easy. In futures section, castor seeds March '98 remained untraded while June contract opened lower and eased further towards closing. Groundnut oil eased Re 1 at Rs 376 per 10 kg on subdued demand and modest arrivals.

Kardi and copra oil-white improved by Rs 10 and Rs 5 to Rs 375 and Rs 495 per 10 kg on improved industrial demand, while ricebran oil advanced by Rs 5 at Rs.173 per 10 kg. Rapeseed oil refined and soya oil refined firmed up by Re 1 each to Rs 324 and Rs 324 per 10 kg respectively .In futures, June contract opened Rs 7 lower at Rs 1232.50 a quintal and ruled steady . It fell to Rs 1228 before closing to Rs 1230 a quintal. Nigerseeds Madras fell Rs 25 at Rs 1400 a quintal.

Sugar: An easy-to-subdued trend was noticed in prices on dull consumer offtake coupled with modest arrivals here yesterday. Both grades ruled easy. The market undertone remained weak. Sugar S-30 eased to Rs 1438/1475 from Rs 1445/1475 a quintal.

The M-30 grade ruled subdued at Rs 1465/1515 as against the previous level of Rs 1465/1513 a quintal on subdued local demand and normal arrivals. Sugar for the check post deliveries were quoted lower at Rs 1428/1440 a quintal for S-30 grade and Rs1445/1480 for M-30.

Non-ferrous metals : A firm-to-steady trend was noticed in the local market. In scraps, copper heavy scraps firmed up by 50 paise at Rs 105.50 a kg on better demand, while copper utensils, brass utensils and brass sheetcuttings looked up by 25 paise each to Rs. 93.50, Rs 83 and Rs 87.50 a kg respectively on reduced inflows coupled with firm overseas advices. Aluminium utensils ruled overall steady at Rs 62 a kg. on narrow movements.

In virgin metals, copper wirebar edged up by 50 paise at Rs 115 a kg.on improved industrial buyings against limited availability.

Meanwhile, all the other metals ruled overall steady and were nominally quoted as: aluminium ingots Rs 82, zinc slabs Rs 70.00, lead ingots Rs 40, tin slabs Rs 345 and nickel cathodes Rs 310 a kg.

Bullion : A divergent trend was noticed in the local bullion market. Both the precious metals ruled in opposite direction. The undertone of the market remained dull.

In white metals, silver .999 and .916 improved by Rs 20 and Rs 45 to Rs 8765 and Rs 8,645 a kg respectively on firm overseas advices and reduced arrivals. Demand was modest. Delhi advices indicated a modest trend.

In yellow metals, both- standard gold and 22 carat gold eased further by Rs 10 each to Rs 3980 and Rs 3680 per 10 grams respectively. The overseas advices also indicated a dull trend. Gold biscuit prices also dipped further by Rs 100 at Rs 46,800 per piece of gold bar on subdued offtake.