Commexes volume hit; indices up

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Mumbai: Undeterred by the black Wednesday that swept across India’s commercial hub, Mumbai, commodity exchanges resumed near normal operations on Friday, even though trader participation was limited because of the fear factor.

All the three national commodity exchanges, headquartered in Mumbai, namely MCX, NCDEX and NMCE started trading early Friday after downing shutters on Thursday following a go-ahead from the Forward Markets Commission.

Indices of major commodities in MCX, the country’s largest exchange by volume and NCDEX rose marginally, indicating positive sentiments among investors on prices. However, volumes in both declined.

While the MCX comdex, a composite index of metals, energy and agro-commodities went up by 0.84% at 1976.93 points, the trading turnover at the exchange declined by 23% to Rs 4,291.60 crore by Friday evening from Rs 5590.23 crore registered on Wednesday due to limited market participations and restricted spot market activities. Similarly, trading turnover of NCDEX also declined by 20% to Rs 1,104 crore from Rs 1,350 crore registered on Wednesday.

At MCX, major trading activities were reported in the bullion, base metals and energy products. Trading volume in the gold, crude oil and copper contracts reduced while silver and lead metal reported higher trading volume. Futures prices of bullion and metals contracts were largely traded mainly on fundamentals factors. While, NCDEX witnessed major trading interest in soybean and mustard seed contracts. “Trading was normal,” Madan Sabnavis, chief economists, NCDEX said.

The expected OPEC meeting this weekend would give gold a new direction as it often tracks crude oil due to the yellow metal’s role as a hedge against inflation, an analyst said.