Buoyed by futures trading in bullion, the turnover of commodity exchanges soared 35.62% to Rs 3,684,795 crore during the current fiscal till December as against Rs 2,716,901 crore in the year-ago period.
Bullion contributed Rs 2,023,441 crore to the total turnover during the first nine months of the current fiscal, the commodity market regulator Foward Markets Commission (FMC) said in a statement.
Futures trading in gold, silver and crude oil helped cover up the major fall witnessed in agri-commodities. The turnover from farm commodities declined 31.63% to Rs 4,41,287 crore during the first nine months of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 6,45,453 crore in the same period previous year, it said.
According to FMC, which publishes the data fortnightly, the turnover of three national commodity exchanges and 19 regional bourses rose 37.85% to Rs 1,76,026 crore in the second fortnight of December 2008.
The contribution of three national exchanges -- MCX, NCDEX and NMCE -- was Rs 1,72,441 crore, with MCX having maximum share at Rs 1,54,975 crore, it said.
Meanwhile, regional bourses' turnover stood at Rs 3,584 crore during the review period, it added.
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Of the traded commodities at MCX, gold, crude oil and silver recorded the highest volume.
The near-month contract (February 2009) in gold quoted its highest at Rs 13,790 per 10 gm on December 29 and the total value of trade in all gold contracts stood at Rs 80,776 crore. Crude oil turnover on MCX at Rs 31,745 crore, while silver trading was at Rs 24,458 crore.
On NCDEX, rape-mustard seed trading surpassed guar seed with a turnover of Rs 2,874 crore. Guar seed recorded a business of Rs 2,119 crore.