In oils and oilseeds segment, castor oil and castorseed saw a fresh slide in prices followed by good arrivals from the producing centres. Elsewhere, prices moved in a narrow range and closed the day with marginal changes.

Palmolein saw marginal improvement while groundnut remained firm.In Hong Kong, gold declined sharply to $272.50 per troy ounce from the previous close of $276.60. In London it was fixed weak in the morning at $272.05 per ounce as against the last close of $273.25, dealers said. In the local market, gold prices declined due to weak overseas advices and closed with moderate losses. Silver, moved in a narrow range and closed with hardly any change. After a sharp slide to Rs 4,530 per 10 gms, gold recovered on some low-level buying and closed at Rs 4,550. 22-carat gold was nominally quoted weak at Rs 4,210. However, ten-tola gold bar (.999 purity) managed to remain steady at Rs 53,200. In silver, raw silver (.916 fineness) declined further by Rs 20 to end at Rs 7,970 from the last close of Rs 7,990 due to increased arrival of raw silver. On the other hand, ready silver (.999 fineness) opened weak at Rs 8,095, but found some support and recovered to close at Rs 8,100, showing no change from the last close. Tenderable silver also held steady at Rs 8,105.

Edible oils, oilseeds: The RBD palmolein futures saw November delivery contract better at Rs 192.50 and rose further to close at Rs 195, up R 4 over the last close of Rs 191. December delivery contract opened at Rs 203 and improved to end at Rs 205.50.

Castor oil declined with improved arrivals even as castor oil commercial reacted down by Rs 3 to end at Rs 298 as against the previous close of Rs 301. Castorseed bold Madras declined to Rs 1,340 from the last close of Rs 1350. Linseed oil also held steady at Rs. 285. On the other hand, in the edible section, groundnut oilat Rs. 396 and imported RBD palmolein at Rs. 193 reamined steady on scattered dealings. In the futures market, castor seed December contact opened sharply weak at Rs 1,333 and declined further to a low of Rs 1,331. Even in Delhi, prices continued to move around previous levels in the oils and oilseeds market today on small small bouts of buying and selling and wound up at last levels. Marketmen said trading activity was restricted due to tight stocks position. They said arrival and offtake was at a low ebb which also reduced the volume of business.

Sugar: A divergent trend was noticed on the Vashi wholesale market here today. Medium sugar (M-30) Declined moderately on good arrivals from sugar mills while Small sugar (S-30) Moved up on stray demand from retailers in the wake of forthcoming Diwali festival.

Non ferrous Metals : Delhi market saw lead prices pick up on local buying and closed with gains. Traders said trading in other metals was restricted on small trading activities and settled at last levels. In Mumbai, tin and copper wire bar ease, lead edges up. Tin slipped to Rs 371 per kilo from Rs 372 previously and copper wire also eased to Rs 154.50 per kilo from Rs 155.