A firm trend prevailed on the bullion market last week as both the precious metals, gold and silver moved in a wide range and closed with smart gains.
The market remained closed on May 1 on account of `Labour Day' and `Maharashtra Day' holiday.
Gold started steady and after showing a wide movement, closed with good gains over the previous week's close.
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Silver, resumed firm and continued to rise on persistent industrial support and finished better.
Standard gold opened the week on Tuesday at Rs 4,350 and after moving in a range of Rs 4,000 and Rs 4,365, closed at Rs 4,380, showing a good gain of Rs 30 over the last close of Rs 4,350.
22-carat gold started at Rs 4,025 and later rose to end at Rs 4,050, revealing a rise of Rs 25 from the last close. Ten told gold bar (.999 purity) commenced steady at Rs 50,900 and shot up to Rs 51,500 on heavy local buying coupled with better overseas advices. Later, it eased due to fall in demand and ended at Rs 51,300, however showing a smart rise of Rs 400 over the previous week's level of Rs 50,900.
Ready silver (.999 fineness) opened firm at Rs 7,915 and rallied to Rs 8,000 on firm overseas advices. Later, due to stockists' selling, plummeted to close at Rs 7900, still showing an overall gain of Rs 25 from last week's close of Rs 7,875. Tenderable silver also improved by a similar margin to Rs 7,905 from Rs 7,880.
Raw silver (.916 fineness) started at Rs 7,785 and after touching an intra-week high of Rs 7,870, closed at Rs 7,775, revealing a smart rise of Rs 50 over the previous week's close of Rs 7,725.
Oils & oilseeds: Prices remained weak on the oilseeds market during the week under review due to poor demand in the wake of good supply from producing centres. In imported palm oil weak overseas advices caused the fall, dealers said. In the edible section, groundnut oil started steady at Rs 350 and after moving in a very restricted way, closed at Rs 345, showing a moderate fall of Rs 5 over the last week's close of Rs 350.
Imported palm oil, after a firm start at Rs 214, reacted down sharply due to weak overseas advices coupled with good supply and closed at Rs 205, showing a fall of Rs 5 from the previous week's close of Rs 210.
In the non-edible section, linseed oil opened firm at Rs 290, but soon met with resistance and nosedived to close at Rs 270, showing a sharp fall of Rs 15 over the last close of Rs 285.
Castor oil commercial started better at Rs 405 and later, declined to close at Rs 401, showing a small loss of Rs 3 over the last close of Rs 404. Castorseed madras declined to Rs 1,855 from Rs 1,870.
Turning to the futures market, castorseed June contract resumed weak at Rs 1,911 and nosedived due to heavy stockists' offering in the wake of poor export demand and closed at the week's lowest level of Rs 1,866, showing a huge fall of Rs 64 over the last close of Rs 1,930.
In castor oil international contract, prices of June delivery opened better at Rs 419, but reacted down following poor overseas demand and closed at Rs 410, revealing a fall of Rs 8 over the last week's close of Rs 418.
The market remained closed on Monday, May 1 on account of `Labour Day' and `Maharashtra Day' holiday.
Non-ferrous metals: A mixed trend was witnessed in the local non-ferrous metals mart during the last week.
Scraps ruled firm while virgins stayed steady-to-firm. The undertone of the market hinted at weakness. The market remained officially closed on Monday on account of Maharashtra Day.
In scraps, copper heavy improved by 50 paise to Rs 117 a kg, while copper utensils, brass utensils and brass sheetcuttings looked up by Re 1 each to Rs 100, Rs 90 and Rs 97 a kg, respectively, on reduced supplies of imported materials.
Aluminium utensils ruled overall steady and were nominally quoted at Rs 68.50 a kg on narrow movements during the week.
In virgins, tin slabs and nickel cathodes looked up by Rs 3 and Rs 2 to Rs 375 and Rs 590 a kg, respectively, on reduced supplies of imported materials against better industrial demand, while copper wirebar firmed up by 25 paise at Rs 122.75 a kg on firm overseas advices coupled with better industrial offtake.
Sugar: Both the grades ruled dull during the week.
The market undertone remained weak during the week.
The market remained officially closed on Monday, May 1, on account of Maharashtra Day.
Small-grade sugar commenced on a subdued note at Rs 1,490-1525 a quintal on Tuesday and eased further to close at Rs 1,430-1,480 a quintal on Saturday.
Medium-grade sugar opened easy at Rs 1,520-1,590 per quintal and weakened further to close out the week at Rs 1,465-1,565 amid dull sentiment.