As against this, mustard oil shot upto Rs 5800 from Rs 5650 a quintal on holding of stock by the Rajasthan, Haryana etc. stockists, but later, due to slack demand at higher level, prices dipped to Rs 5700, still showing a gain of Rs 50 a quintal.

Palmolein in Malaysia ruled firm at $760.50 a tonne. There was paucity of mustard, groundnut oils and sunflower refined oil in the capital.

Masoor dal up

In mixed market conditions, wheat and its products prices showed a firm tendency.

Despite inflow of about 10,000 bags of wheat daily, wheat dara, firmed upto Rs 660-675 from Rs 640-650 a quintal on strong demand from the south as well as local flour millers. Wheat desi Sharbati ofMP recorded a gain of Rs 25 at Rs 1050 a quinta. Similarly, roller flour mill atta and maida moved up from Rs 650-710 to Rs 670 and Rs 735 per bag, respectively on good demand. Bajra looked up by Rs 10 at Rs 415-440 a quintal on strong demand from cattlefeed units.

Among pulses, on selling pressure from the producing areas rajmash chitra slumped by Rs 50 at Rs 2300-2700 a quintal while quality moong firmed up by Rs 25 a quintal. Dal masoor went up by Rs 25-50 a quintal as stockists were holding stock in anticipation of demand from exporters.

Gur plummets

Despite weak upcountry demand, mill delivery sugar prices by the millers pushed up by Rs 5 at Rs 1370-1515 a quintal. Scattered demand in mill delivery sugar Mawana with moisture was reported at Rs 1477 and dry sugar was quoted at Rs 1515, Bagpat at Rs 1403, Gajroula at Rs 1407, Neelganj at Rs 1415, Totalpur at Rs 1439 and tax-paid Jagadhari was traded at Rs 1557 a quintal.

In the wake of clear weather conditions, output of gur was higher,consequently, new gur prices plummeted by Rs 50 at Rs 1250-1300 a quintal. New gur Chaku in Muzaffarnagar mandi ruled at Rs 400-437 and Laddoo, Khura and Peri at Rs 350-390 per mound, respectively. 'Guria' shakkar there was priced at Rs 450-470 per mound.

Copra tumbles

On stockists selling coupled with slack demand, copra tumbled down from Rs 5700-6700 to Rs 4800-5500 a quintal as arrival in the past three days was reported about 40-45 lorries. Coconut powder slumped by Rs 100-200 per 25 kgs. as festive demand was over.

Among spices, on firm Guatemala advices coupled with poor arrivals at the auction centres of south, cardamom small firmed up by Rs 10 at Rs 335-700 a kg. Guatemala settled export deals with Saudi Arabia for cardamom small at $9 a kg. therefore, superior Indian cardamom small could be exported at $10 a kg.

Downtrend continues in bullion

Both the precious metals, on the local market continued their downward march on Friday on weak overseas advices.

Gold in Londonslipped to $292-293 from $294.50 an ounce and on inflow of about 1500 kgs. imported gold on Thursday coupled with slack demand from local as well as upcountry jewellers, gold biscuit and standard mint gold slipped to Rs 4305 and Rs 4320 from Rs 4320 and Rs 4330 per 10 gram, respectively. Gold sovereign, however, remained unchanged at Rs 3750-3775 per 8 gram.

Though New York silver future improved by 3 cents to 488 cents an ounce, yet spot silver .999 fineness slumped by Rs 55 at Rs 7275 a kg. on inflow of about 10-15,000 kgs. silver on Thursday coupled with dull demand from local as well as upcountry industries. Silver weekly delivery, on unloading by the bulls, was down by Rs 38 at Rs 7322 a kg.

Silver coins remained unaltered at Rs 11,100-11,200 per 100 pieces.

Mumbai

Gold prices dipped further while silver hardened on the bullion market here today. Standard gold fell by Rs 25 to Rs 4,300 per 10 gm. Gold .22 carat ruled steady at Rs 3,980 per 10 gm. Prices of gold biscuit (116.50 gm.)finished Rs 600 lower at Rs 50,400 per piece. Seasonal demand for gold was over amidst conclusion of diwali festival while continued overseas supplies followed by weak global advices prompted profit taking by stockists and local banks. Subdued trend in dollar value against rupee also weakened market sentiment. In the global market gold slide to $293/293.25 per an ounce.

Silver .999 recovered by Rs 20 toRs 7,395 per kg. Silver .916 rose by Rs 15 toRs 7,265 per kg in sympathy.

Tri-sodium phosphate declines

Tri-sodium phosphate declined sharply by Rs 50-100 at Rs 850-1000 per 50 kgs. following excess inflow while the sales remained slack. Ammonia bicarb also slumped from Rs 300-305 to Rs 280-285 per 25 kgs. as the Diwali demand from bakers was over.

Titanium dioxide K. brand and TTK as well eased by Re. one per kg. on slack buying.