Festival buying props up prices

DOMESTIC REVIEW/BULLION

The prices of gold and silver witnessed a mercurial week in domestic trade, trailing the international markets, which saw a fall after crude prices eased mid-week.

Domestic prices however saw a mild correction towards the end of the week with festival buying continuing.

Internationally, prices rose. Spot gold in New York skirted the $430 levels briefly during the week but was unable to sustain the price owing to a weak dollar and volatile crude prices.

Analysts said prices were likely to remain under pressure till elections in the USA ended.

The benchmark December gold futures contract on the Comex in New York closed at $429.10 from $425.60 last week.

The spot London gold fix closed the week at $ 425.55 (PM) from last Friday's $422.80. Locally, the precious metals market was saved by the festival season.

During the week ended October 30, spot gold (99.50 purity) in Mumbai closed higher from last week's close of Rs 6400.00 at Rs 6420 on Saturday per 10 gram. Spot gold (99.90 purity) closed at Rs 6455 on Friday from last week's Rs 6435.

Silver did not get back to last week's high levels. Spot silver (.999) closed lower from last week's close of Rs 11710 to end at Rs 11660 per kilogram.

In the futures market, on the National Commodity Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), the November contract increased to Rs 6324 from Rs 6320, with open positions worth 604500 gram and a volume of contract of 67600 gram.

The December contract closed higher at Rs 6310 compared with last week's close of Rs 6307, with an open interest and volume of 208100 gram and 10800 gram respectively.

The January 20 contract closed at Rs 6306 from Rs 6314 last week, with an open interest of 19100 and a volume of 3000 traded.

The December 7 contract of Sona (.995) traded at Rs 6270.00 the whole of last week. The open interest was 24 with no trades. The February 7 contract traded at Rs 6275.00 all week, with an open interest of 10.

The Chandi contract picked up some trade and closed at Rs 11184 from Rs 11250 last Saturday, with an open interest of 2130, and no trades.

A total of 720 kg was traded during the week, with most trades taking place between Monday and Wednesday.

NCDEX November silver futures closed at Rs 11069 compared with Rs 10974 last week. The open interest closed at 72865 kilogram while the volume of contract stood at 19175.

The December contract closed from Rs 11217 last week at Rs 11056, with an open interest of 34510 and a volume of 5035.

The January contract closed at Rs 11040 from Rs 11170 last Saturday, with an open interest of 5910 and a volume of 1500 traded.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) the December gold closed at Rs 6307 from Rs 6313 with an open interest of 3713 kg and a volume of 1262 kg.

The February contract closed at Rs 6302 from Rs 6305 with an open interest of 78 kg, and a volume of 10 kg.

The December Gold HNI (High Net Worth Individuals) contract closed at Rs 6250 on Friday from last week's Rs 6242. The open interest stood at 15 kg.

HNI Silver closed at Rs 10347 from Rs 10539 last week, with an open interest of 6150 kg and a volume of 900 kg traded.

The December 3 silver contract dipped to close at Rs 11079 on Friday from Rs 11232.00 last week. The open positions stood at 140550 kg and the volume of contract was 107280 kg.

The March 2005 contract traded at Rs 11044 from Rs 11187 with 4650 kg positions open, and a volume of 1080 kg.