Silver futures on the MCX platform ended higher and jumped up by nearly 6.5% on the week ended on Friday, on mainly renewed speculative buying support, following rising crude oil and gold prices.
Crude oil futures also gained further ground and touched an all time high of $135.30 in the international market. Also, gold witnessed some fresh gains on continued buying interest from investors. On the other hand, copper futures reacted at the higher level on continued selling pressure on reports of resumption of mining operations in China.
The active silver July contract was traded higher at Rs 25,076 per kg, up by 6.47% or Rs 1,525 over the previous week. The open interest was 189 tonne and volume was 315 tonne. Silver futures for July delivery climbed 22.5 cent, or 1.3%, to $18.25 an ounce. The price advanced 21% this year, while gold climbed 9.6%.
The June crude oil contracts shot up and touched Rs 5,677 per barrel, up by 6.25 % or Rs 334 over the previous week. Total volume was 21.4 lakh barrels, while open interest was 17.61 lakh barrels.
Crude-oil futures are up for a third straight week, reaching a record $135.09 a barrel on Thursday.
Consumption averaged 20.3 million barrels a day inthe past four weeks, down 1.3% from a year earlier, the Energy Department said last week.
Opec ministers said they could do nothing to prevent higher prices because they are pumping at capacity.
“The fundamentals justify a price between $80 and $100,” said Sarah Emerson, a managing director at Energy Security Analysis Inc, a consulting firm in Wakefield, Massachusetts.
The active June gold contract was 3.37% higher at Rs 12,760 per 10 gram, up by Rs 416 per 10 gram over previous week. Total volume was 14,051 kg. Open interest was 7,199 kg. Gold futures for June delivery rose $8.30 to $926.60 an ounce on the Commex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
“Oil and the dollar have had an inverse relationship and it looks like the dollar may be heading for another record low against the euro,” said John Kilduff, vice president of risk management at MF Global Ltd. in New York.
The active copper June contract was traded lower at Rs 346.35 per kg, down by Rs 9.55 over the previous week. The open interest was 10,682 tonne and volume was 22,506 tonne.