Cooling off after a frantic week

DOMESTIC REVIEW / BULLION

The domestic bullion market cooled down after a week of furious trading last week on the back of reducing crude prices, which has led the dollar to hint at an appreciation.

The December futures contract on the Comex in New York traded lower from last week $405.50. The London gold fix traded lower by $5 as well at $405.05 (PM).

In the domestic market, during the week ended August 28, spot gold (99.50 purity) in Mumbai closed higher from last week's close of Rs 6280 at Rs 6185 per 10 gram. Spot gold (99.90 purity) rose from Rs 6315.00 to Rs 6220.

Spot silver (.999) eased from last week's sharp rise of Rs 11105.00 to close at Rs 10800.00 per kilogram.

The futures market witnessed short selling, with a bearish outlook for the months ahead. On the National Commodity Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), the September gold contract ended on Friday at Rs 6147.35 from Rs 6115.95 last week. The volumes were 59100 gram. Open interest stood at 364500 gram.

The October contract increased to Rs 6145 from Rs 6104, with open positions worth 96800 gram and a volume of contract of 11200 gram.

The November contract closed lower at Rs 6145 compared with last week's close of Rs 6185, with an open interest and volume of 13900 gram and 300 gram respectively.

The pure gold (kilo) September contract ended at Rs 6150 from Rs 6133 last week, with an open interest of 16 kg and a volume of 34 kg.

The October contract closed at Rs 6140, from the previous week of Rs 6120, amid an open interest of 6 kg, and a volume of 35 kg.

NCDEX September silver futures closed at Rs 10565.35 with an open interest of 38095. The price fell from last week's Rs 10635.25.

The October contract closed at Rs 10561 compared with Rs 10612 last week. The open interest closed at 10490 kilogram while the volume of contract stood at 1645.

The November silver contract closed at Rs 10565.00 compared with Rs 10709.00 last week, with an open interest of 1725 and volume of 495.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) the October gold contract fell from Rs 6179 to Rs 6142, amid an open interest of 1834 kg and a volume of contract of 1114 kg.

The December 3 contract had an open interest of 146 kg and a volume of 16 kg traded. The price however fell to Rs 6141 from Rs 6161.

The September silver contract closed lower at Rs 10527 on Friday from Rs 10695 last week. The open positions stood at 48630 kg and the volume of contract was 62820 kg.

The December 3 silver contract closed lower again at Rs 10530 on Friday from Rs 10682 last week. The open positions stood at 29790 kg and the volume of contract was 43680 kg.