Markets on fire

MARKET REVIEW: Domestic /Bullion

The price of gold touched a 16-year high on Friday in New York, in a consistent rally that has lasted over a month. This pushed up prices in India as well towards the end of the week.

Silver too was highly volatile both in the domestic and global markets on the back of rising gold.

Gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex hit a high of $434.30 on Friday from $429.10 last week, a level not seen since July 1988.

This came on the back of a weak dollar that touched record lows against the euro, leading traders to go bullish on gold with expected renewed geo-political tension following the re-election of George W. Bush in the US presidential elections.

The spot London gold fix closed too closed the week higher at $ 431 (PM) from last Friday's $425.55.

In India, during the week ended November 6, the festive demand added to the buoyancy of the prices.

Spot gold (99.50 purity) in Mumbai closed higher from last week's close of Rs 6420 at Rs 6460 on Saturday per 10 gram. Spot gold (99.90 purity) closed at Rs 6500 on Saturday from last week's Rs 6455.

Silver, which has a higher demand from the industrial side also increased. Spot silver (.999) closed sharply higher from last week's close of Rs 11660 to end at Rs 11865 per kilogram.

In futures trading, silver displayed volatile tendencies while gold had a mixed week, and ended more or less flat across the exchanges. However, analysts expect that the activity is set to pick up in the segment with the international bull-trend.

On the National Commodity Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), the November contract increased to Rs 6328 from Rs 6324, with open positions worth 622900 gram and a volume of contract of 112500 gram.

The December contract closed minorly lower at Rs 6315 compared with last week's close of Rs 6321, with an open interest and volume of 243200 gram and 79600 gram respectively. The January contract closed at Rs 6315 from Rs 6307 with an open interest and volume of 35900 10800 each.

The December 7 contract of Sona (.995) traded at Rs 6320 against Rs 6270 last week. The open interest was 21 with no trades. The February 7 contract traded steady at Rs 6275 all through the week with an open interest of 10. The December 7 Chandi contract closed at Rs 11015 from Rs 11147 in the previous week. NCDEX November contract closed at Rs 11139 compared with Rs 11069 last week. The open interest closed at 65190 kilogram while the volume of contract stood at 45675.

The December contract closed at Rs 11120.00 the same as last week but displayed a very volatile trend through the week, with an open interest of 33250 and a volume of 20340.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) the December gold closed at Rs 6314 from Rs 6322 with an open interest of 3371 kg and a volume of 1618 kg. The February contract closed at Rs 6307 from Rs 6305 with an open interest of 120 kg, and a volume of 26 kg.

The December Gold HNI (High Net Worth Individuals) contract closed at Rs 6275 on Friday from last week's Rs 6250. The open interest stood at 15 kg with 6 kg volumes.

HNI Silver closed at Rs 10756 from Rs 10539 last week, with an open interest of 6300 kg and a volume of 900 kg traded.

The December 3 silver contract dipped to close at Rs 11201 on Friday from Rs 11173 last week. The open positions stood at 156210 kg and the volume of contract was 124920 kg.

The March 2005 contract traded at Rs 11193 the same as the previous week, with 12090 kg positions open, and a volume of 3630 kg.