Pulses' futures on the rise

MARKET ROUNDUP

Pulses' futures continued their bull run on the second day of the week as well. Yesterday, the pulses segment opened on a firm note almost after a bearish phase of over a month.

In fact, the uptrend was noticeable on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (Ncdex) during the later part of the last week's trading.

At the end of Monday's trade on Ncdex, near-month contracts of various pulses settled in green. Masoor closed at Rs 1,900 a quintal against the previous close of Rs 1,885. Tur desi remained above the Rs 2,000 mark to end the day at Rs 2,020, up Rs 17 a quintal.

Urad staged a smart comeback jumping by over Rs 100 a quintal today. It ended the day at Rs 3,113, up 3.4 per cent from the earlier close of Rs 3,010 a quintal. However, chana could not maintain its upward momentum and weakened slightly to close at Rs 2,364 against the previous close of Rs 2,382 a quintal.

Commodity analysts said these could well be the precursor to an upmove in ever-decreasing pulses rates. Although the demand was still not picking, these levels were rational, they added. However, if demand remained low in the next fortnight, the uptrend could be a short-term one, the analysts said.

The spices market saw a mixed trading. Turmeric and chilli futures closed in green on Ncdex. Turmeric, which opened the week on a weaker note, today rose 1.5 per cent to Rs 1,982 a quintal from Rs 1,952. Chilli firmed up by Rs 60 a quintal on the back of Chinese buyers' entry into the market. Pepper continued to slip. Down by Rs 13, it settled at Rs 11,222 a quintal. Similarly, cumin seed further declined by Rs 40 a quintal to close at Rs 9,068 a quintal.

Sugar seems to have no let-up. On the exchange, it closed the day at Rs 1,593 a quintal against Monday's close of Rs 1,602 on the back of low buying on high output projections. The commodity had closed at Rs 1,619 a quintal last week.

Wheat futures on Ncdex remained almost flat at Rs 1,059 a quintal. The commodity has shown a bullish trend since the start of the week compared with the last week close of Rs 1,019 a quintal.

The fluctuations seen over the past two weeks have been between Rs 4 and Rs 15. Similarly, Maize, which closed on a firm note yesterday, dropped back to its last week's closing level at Rs 736 a quintal.