Agri futures to remain weak

The agri commodity futures continued their downward trend on Saturday. Though the fall was less in intensity compared with the Friday's crash, the market would open in the same line this week.

The inflation going above 5 per cent and the continued selling pressure are likely to keep the market weak in the short-term.

In the pulses segment, chana on Saturday continued its downward trend and closed at Rs 2,863 a quintal, down 1.6 per cent. It is despite the fact that new market crop estimates at 4.5 million tonnes is much lower than the earlier projected figures.

Spices sector showed mixed trend. Turmeric and chilli futures continued to be in the red whereas pepper and jeera moved up and closed on a positive note due to good demand. 
 

LOSING STEAM The weekend futures prices
Commodity	Closing price in Rs/quintal
	Friday	Saturday	Change (%)
Barley	1,074	1061	-1.2
Chana	2,909	2863	-1.6
Chilli	4,551	4440	-2.5
Guarseed	2,023	2012	-0.5
Jeera	9,467	9657	2.0
Maize	835	833	-0.2
Pepper	15128	15375	1.6
Sugar M	1542	1559	1.1
Soybean	2227	2143	-3.8
Ref Soyoil*	685	666	-2.8
Turmeric	3343	3323	-0.6
* per 10 kg Source : NCDEX

In the grain futures, maize and barley slipped by 1.2 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively. Soybean hit another circuit on Saturday to close at Rs 2,143 a quintal, down 3.8 per cent.

Refined soy oil also weakened and closed at Rs 666 per 10 kg. Sugar M also traded firm to close at Rs 1,559 a quintal, up 1.1 per cent.