Groundnut Oil Up By Rs 8, Sugar Firm, Bullion Mixed

Groundnut oil flared up by Rs eight to Rs 396 per 10 kg on reduced arrivals coupled with improved demand at the wholesale oils and oilseeds market, Turbhe, Navi Mumbai, yesterday.

In the futures section, castor seeds March '98 remained untraded, while June contract opened higher and firmed up further towards closing.

In other oils, kardi oil and copra oil white advanced by Rs five and Rs 10 to Rs 365 and Rs 475 per 10 kg, respectively. Cottonseed oil washed and refined qualities improved further by Rs five and Rs four to Rs 355 and Rs 358 per 10 kg, respectively. Rapeseed oil refined and sunflower oil expeller edged up further by Rs five and Rs four to Rs 355 and Rs 374 per 10 kg, respectively. Imported palmolein looked up further by Rs five at Rs 354 per 10 kg. In the futures section, June contract opened Rs five higher at Rs 1,267 a quintal and declined to Rs 1,265.50 before closing at Rs 1,269.50 a quintal.

In oilseeds, castorseeds Madras and Maharashtra quality advanced further by Rs 15 each to Rs 1,234 and Rs 1,228 per quintal, respectively. Kardi seeds firmed up by Rs 25 at Rs 1,600 a quintal

Sugar: A firm-to-upward trend was maintained in sugar prices at the local wholesale sugar market yesterday. Both the grades of sugar ruled firm.

Sugar S-30 firmed up further to Rs 1,420/1,461, while Sugar M-30 improved further to Rs 1,450/1,515. Meanwhile, sugar for the check-post deliveries were quoted lower at Rs 1,401/1,420 a quintal for S-30 grade, while Rs 1,432/1,475 a quintal for the M-30 grade.

Non-ferrous metals: A weak-to-steady trend continued in the local non-ferrous metals market yesterday.

The demand remained dull against normal arrivals.

In virgin metals, tin slabs and nickel cathodes declined further by Rs three each to Rs 338 and Rs 305 a kg, respectively.

Lead ingots firmed by 50 paise at Rs 40.50 a kg. Meanwhile, all the other metals were quoted as under: copper wirebar Rs 116.50, aluminium ingots Rs 82 and zinc slabs Rs 70 a kg, respectively.

In the scraps section, copper heavy scraps declined further by 50 paise to Rs 106 a kg, while copper utensils, brass utensils and brass sheetcuttings eased by 25 paise each to Rs 93.25, Rs 83.75 and Rs 88 a kg, respectively.

Bullion: A divergent trend was noticed in the local bullion market yesterday. Both the precious metals ruled in opposite directions.

In white metals, silver .999 and .916 dipped further by Rs 50 and Rs 40 to Rs 8,500 and Rs 8,400 a kg, respectively.

In yellow metals, both- standard gold and 22-carat gold improved by Rs 20 each to Rs 4,010 and Rs 3,710 per 10 grammes, respectively. Gold biscuit prices also firmed up by Rs 200 at Rs 47,100 per piece of gold bar.