Standard gold maintained at Rs 4,595 per 10 gm. so was gold .22 carat at Rs 4,250 per 10 gm. in sympathy. Prices of gold biscuit (116.50 gm.) remained unchanged at Rs 53,900 per piece. Festival demand for gold was at a low ebb ahead of Diwali festival, while tight supplies kept offerings limited during the day.In the global market gold slide by a dollar to $291.50 per an ounce Meanwhile silver .999 moved up by Rs 30 at Rs 8,240 per kg. Silver .916 was up by Rs 10 at Rs 8,100 per kg. Brisk festival demand for silver lifted prices upward while lack of ready stock coupled with firm Delhi advices kept offerings restricted. Traders reported volume of trading around 900/1000 kg of silver in the local market today. In the international market the white metal closed at the previous level of $5.22/5.23 per an ounce.

Edible oils dip
Edible oils declined further on the oilseeds market here today due to poor offtake in the face of good arrival. Weak upcountry advices also dampened the sentiment.

However, non-edible oils and oilseeds held steady on restricted activity.Groundnut oil fell further sharply by Rs. 4 to end at Rs.361 from the previous day's close of Rs. 365 and imported palm oil dropped to Rs. 193 from Rs. 196 due to weak overseas advices.

In the non-edible section, castor oil commercial at Rs.355, castorseed Madras at Rs. 1625 and linseed oil at Rs. 350 showed no change from yesterday's close. In the futures market, castorseed December contract opened weak at Rs. 1655, but recovered sharply on good export demand and ended at Rs. 1673, showing a moderate rise over the previous close of Rs. 1672.

In castor oil international contract, prices of both December and February deliveries held steady at Rs. 375 and Rs. 378 respectively.

Delhi
Cottonseed tumbles
On consistent import from Malaysia, palmolein in Mumbai further fell by Rs 50 and touched a low level of Rs 1900 a quintal as a result, business in domestic edible oils remained dull.

Cottonseed and sesame mill delivery oils tumbled down by Rs 10-50 a quintal due to weak demand from vanaspati millers.

Rajmash chitra falls
In lack-lustre trading, the local grains and pulses market displayed a mixed tendency on Thursday. Maize, at the local market, moved up from Rs 540-570 to Rs 550-585 a quintal due to restricted arrivals from UP coupled with good demand from cattlefeed units. Wheat dara prices held steady on firm upcountry advices. Roller flour mill atta, maida and suji prices remained subdued due to weak demand from eastern Indian buyers.

Among pulses, moong recovered by Rs 25 a quintal on good demand from UP buyers and masoor prices firmed up by Rs 5-25 a quintal on support from dal millers. Rajmash chitra fell by Rs 20-50 a quintal as new red rajmash from the south is expected by next month. Gram Rajasthani slipped by Rs 10 a quintal on weak Lucknow advices.

Sugar remains sluggish
Business in mill delivery sugar remained sluggish as Maharashtra mills were allocated higher free-sale sugar quota by about 33,000 tonne by the Centre. Left over sugar quota for October can be sold by the Maharashtra millers by the 10th of November.

Mill delivery sugar Mawana was traded at Rs 1600, Modi with some moisture at Rs 1450, Douralla on advance payment, at Rs 1466 and Simbhouli was offered at Rs 1466 a quintal.

Cardamom brown up
Cardamom brown, at the local market moved up from Rs 220-245 to Rs 230-260 a kg as there was no supply from Sikkim. Cardamom small, however, held steady at its previous close while turmeric prices remained subdued as daily arrival in Erode mandi was reported about 4000-5000 bags. Zeera also held steady as daily arrivals in Unjha mandi went down to about 1000 bags.

Among dry fruits, almond kernel California edged up by Rs 4 a kg on strong festive demand while copra, on selling pressure from Tiptur, further tumbled down by Rs 150 at Rs 4950-5200 a quintal.