Celebrations drive fresh rally

DOMESTIC REVIEW/BULLION

Gold and silver prices in the domestic market moved up after a slight correction last week, with increased buying by industrial and jewellery segments as the festival season kicking off.

Internationally, prices rose too. Spot gold in New York hit a peak of $426 on Thursday on the back of a consistently weak dollar, and soaring crude prices.

However despite a firm euro, gold is not able to hit the $430 levels reached earlier in the year.

Silver too followed the trail and hit a high on Thursday. The benchmark December gold futures contract on the Comex in New York closed at $425.60 from $420.10 last week. The spot London gold fix closed the week at $ 422.80 (PM) from last Friday's $420.40.

Locally, the precious metals market glittered with the festival buying picking up.

During the week ended October 23, spot gold (99.50 purity) in Mumbai closed higher from last week's close of Rs 6340 at Rs 6400 on Saturday per 10 gram. Spot gold (99.90 purity) closed at Rs 6435 on Friday from last week's Rs 6375.

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 11330 to end at Rs 11710 per kilogram.

The futures market saw a rise in the prices as well as good open interest. On the National Commodity Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), the October 20 gold contract that expired ended at Rs 6337.00 from Rs 6272.00 last week. (Our Commodities Bureau)

The volumes were 228200 gram. Open interest stood at 190800 gram.

The November contract increased to Rs 6320 from Rs 6269, with open positions worth 500200 gram and a volume of contract of 163500 gram.

The December contract closed higher at Rs 6307 compared with last week's close of Rs 6266, with an open interest and volume of 182700 gram and 26800 gram respectively.

The December 7 contract of Sona (.995) traded at Rs 6190 the same as last week. The open interest was 24 with no trades. The February 7 contract traded at Rs 6275 slightly up from Rs 6250 with an open interest of 10.

NCDEX October silver futures expired on the 20th at a closing price of Rs 11216. The price rose from last week's Rs 11027.

The November contract closed at Rs 10974 compared with Rs 11228 last week. The open interest closed at 89645 kilogram while the volume of contract stood at 36750.

The December contract closed from Rs 10972 last week at Rs 11217, with an open interest of 44575 and a volume of 7655.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) the December gold closed at Rs 6313 from Rs 6269 with an open interest of 4123 kg and a volume of 1514 kg.

The February contract closed at Rs 6305 from Rs 6275 with an open interest of 32 kg, and a volume of 13 kg. The December Gold HNI (High Net Worth Individuals) contract closed at Rs 6242 on Friday from last week's Rs 6162. The open interest stood at 12 kg with 15 kg volumes.

HNI Silver closed at Rs 10741 from Rs 10347 last week, with an open interest of 8100 kg and a volume of 2700 kg traded.

The December 3 silver contract dipped to close at Rs 11232 on Friday from Rs 10982 last week. The open positions stood at 206430 kg and the volume of contract was 102810 kg.

The March 2005 contract traded at Rs 11187 from Rs 10955 with 3810 kg positions open, and a volume of 360 kg.