Gold firm, silver mixed; oilseeds suffers

Our Commodities Bureau in Mumbai

BULLION: Upsurge in gold prices continued on the bullion market here during last week to Friday, dealers said. Silver on the other hand moved in both ways and closed below Rs 7,200-mark.

Standard gold lifted from Rs 4,385 to Rs 4,465 before settling at Rs 4,440 per 10 gm. Prices of gold biscuit (116.50 gm.) hardened from Rs 51,400 to Rs 52,150 and closed the week at Rs 52,000 per piece. Traders reported renewed physical demand for gold during the week amidst beginning of festival season while scattered inflow, uptrend in dollar value against rupee and bullish overseas advices kept offerings limited. Dollar prices in the local market rose to $47.18 before settling at $47.12 following downgrading of the Indian currency rating by overseas agencies during the week. In the global market gold moved up from $268.20 to $275 per troy ounce.

Silver .999 moved in both ways but settled Rs 25 lower at Rs 7,190 per kg. amidst steady inflow raw silver from local sources. Industrial buyers however stayed away in the falling market, one bullion broker said. Arrivals of imported metals were placed around 1,000/1,200 kg during the week while traders reported daily inflow of 150/200 kg of raw silver from local sources, a broker added.

In the global market silver at one stage slipped to $4.14/4.15 per troy ounce (8-years lowest level) before settling at $4.25/4.26 per troy ounce.

OIL, OILSEEDS: Groundnut oil suffered losses at the improved level on the oil, oilseeds market here during last week. Castorseed and its oil also lost some of the recent gain in absence of overseas support despite rally in dollar value, dealers said.

Groundnut oil declined by Rs 10 at Rs 410 per 10 kg amidst sluggish buying followed by fresh inflow. In Rajkot groundnut oil quoted lower from Rs 675/680 to Rs 655 per 15 kg.

Imported palm oil moved in both ways but closed a rupee higher at Rs 335 per 10 kg mainly on account of upsurge in dollar value, dealers said. In the overseas market palm oil reacted from $375 to $367.50 per tonne while forward deliveries were quoted by $7.50 lower at $370 per tonne. Though the Centre earlier had announced import duty restructure on palm oil and the tariff value to reduce under-invoicing but this move had little impact on the palm oil market, according to one importer.

Meanwhile castor oil eased by Rs 5 at Rs 276/288 per 10 kg. Castorseed were down by Rs 25 at Rs 1,230 per quintal in sympathy.
In the futures section castorseed September delivery dropped by Rs 5 at Rs 1,245 per quintal on light bull liquidation following bearish Gujarat advices. December delivery placed higher at Rs 1,300 per
quintal, floor sources said.

In Ahmedabad castorseed September delivery quoted lower at Rs 1,193 and December delivery at Rs 1,283 per quintal respectively. Traders reported daily inflow of 8,000/10,000 bags of castorseed in Gujarat during the week, it was learnt.