Bullion: In Delhi, silver coins were seen tumbling down, even as gold fared better. Post-festival, demand for silver coins dropped by Rs 100 at Rs 11,200/11,300 per 100 pieces while silver ready remained unchanged at Rs 7,815 per kg.

In Mumbai, bullion prices were divergent. Gold declined sharply and silver recovered smartly. Gold did very badly due to weak Hongkong advices. Silver, continued to rise in line with firm London advices. The Delhi Silver weekly delivery gained Rs 10 at Rs 7,860 per kilo on speculators buying. However, gold was seen gaining strength on a sharp change in the forex market, following a firm US dollar against the rupee which touched a historic low.

Sugar: With the end of festival demand, sugar prices fell sharply on the Vashi wholesale market today. Coupled with good arrivals from sugar mills medium sugar quality (M-30) moved down by Rs 4.25/24.00 per quintal to Rs 1,491/1541 from last weekend levels of Rs 1,515/1,545.25.

Oils, oilseeds: In Mumbai, the RBD palmolein declined by Rs 3.25 to close at Rs 204 from the last close of Rs 207.25, while groundnut oil eased to Rs 365 from Rs 365.25. Among non-edibles, castor oil commercial improved to Rs 292 from the previous level of Rs 290.51 on fresh soap manufacturers demand. Castorseed hold on Madras hardened to Rs 1,310 from the last close of Rs 1,302.55 on good export demand. Linseed oil rallied by Rs 5 to Rs 270 from the previous close of Rs 265 due to higher Calcutta advices.

In the futures market, castor-seed December delivery contract opened weak at Rs 1,308 and after moving up to a high of Rs 1,312, closed at Rs 1,311, showing no change from the previous close.

In castor oil, international prices of the December delivery also held steady at Rs 310.

Metals: In Mumbai, tin recovered sharply in a mixed non-ferrous metal market here today on fresh demand from industries. Nickel, copper wire bar and zinc also moved up on stray buying support. However, copper scrap heavy and copper utensils scrap eased due to poor offtake. Tin shot up by Rs 10 per kilo to Rs 368 from Rs 358, followed by nickel climbing to Rs 500 per kg, copper wire bar to Rs 155.50 per kg and zinc to Rs 88.00 per kg. Copper scrap heavy eased to Rs 125.25 per kilo and copper utensils scrap to Rs 106.25 per kg. Other metals ruled steady.

Spices: A sharp fall in copra Rajapur Mumbai marked trading on the spices market here today. Copra Rajapur Mumbai fell by Rs. 300 per quintal to Rs. 3900 from Rs. 4200 following good arrivals from producing centres coupled with sudden decline in demand. Copra office Alleppey eased to Rs. 2050 per quintal from Rs.2075 due to poor offtake.

Copra office Kozhikode and copra edible Mumbai both ruled steady at Rs. 2200 per quintal and Rs. 3200 per quintal respectively.

Black pepper and ginger rates were not available due to closure of markets. Following were today's closing prices in Rupees per quintal with previous rates in brackets.

Chemicals: Chemicals prices in Delhi fluctuated in a narrow range and settled around the previous closing levels. Volume of business was small.