Precious metals up on dollar's ascent

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Precious metals continued on their upward rally on the back of a falling dollar vis-a-vis the euro.

In addition, the high oil prices kept traders wary of possible supply crunches.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex, benchmark December gold contract settled $1 higher at $443.70 an ounce, continuing the market's recent advance.

September silver futures finished 5.5 cents lower at $7.252 an ounce. The spot London gold fix too closed higher at $438.25 (PM) from $429.00 (PM). Silver closed lower at $ 7.11 an ounce from $7.22 last week.

For the week ended August 6 gold and silver prices rose again in the local market. Spot gold (99.50 purity) in Mumbai closed at Rs 6,225.00 per 10 gram from Rs 6,110.00 last week. Spot gold (99.90 purity) closed at Rs 6,290.00 from Rs 6,145.00 the previous week. Spot silver (.999) too gained ground at Rs 10,790.00 from last week's Rs 10,760.00 per kilogram.

Futures trading in gold and silver saw better prices and higher volumes in trading across the contracts. On the National Commodity Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), the August gold contract closed at Rs 6,190.00 from Rs 6,117.00 with no open interest and a volume of 1 kg.

The October contract closed at Rs 6,201.00 from Rs 6180.00, with an open interest of 4 kg and a volume of 3 kg.

Silver contract in August closed at Rs 10,633.00 from Rs 10,640.00 last week, with open interest of 1,20,390 gram and a volume of 1,95,750 gram.

September contract closed at Rs 10,722.00 from Rs 10,681.00 with an open interest of 91,950 gram with a volume of 10,440 gram.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) the August contract closed higher at Rs 6,229.00 from Rs 6,022.00 with open interest of 50 kg and a volume of 14 kg.

The October contract closed at Rs 6,245.00 compared with Rs 6,106.00 with an open interest of 4,805 kg with a volume of 1,053 kg. The September 5 silver contract rose to close at Rs 10,714.00 from Rs 10,524.00 last week.

The open positions stood at 2,51,010 kg and the volume of contract was 63,120 kg. The December contract of silver closed at Rs 10,795.00 up from Rs 10,633.00 last week with an open interest of 44,040 kg and a volume of 2,100 kg.