Edible, non-edible oils remain down on sluggish demand

NEWS DIGEST

Edible oils, led by groundnut mill delivery, suffered a setback on the wholesale oils and oilseeds market on Tuesday on stockists selling against slow down in buying by millers and registered widespread losses.

A few oils in the non-edible section also drifted on poor offtake by stockists due to slackened demand from paint makers and other industries. Traders said apart from reduced offtake by millers, increased arrivals from producing belts mainly led to a fall in edible oil prices.

In the edible section, groundnut mill delivery turned distinctly weak and nosedived by Rs 150 at Rs 5,150 a quintal while groundnut solvent refined (per tin) drifted by Rs 10 at Rs 940-960 per tin of 15 litres.

Mustard expeller oil remained weak and eased by another Rs 20 at Rs 4,500 a quintal. Cottonseed mill delivery oil followed suit and declined from Rs 4,260 to finish at Rs 4,220 a quintal.

On the other hand, palmoline (rbd) atttracted buyers attention due to scarcity of stocks and finished higher at Rs 4650 against last close of Rs 4,600 a quintal.

Cloves, dry ginger weaken at kirana market

In restricted activity, prices of cloves and dry ginger drifted in the wholesale kirana market on Tuesday on selling by stockists amidst lower advices from producing centres, closed with moderate losses.

Marketmen said fresh selling by stockists against increased arrivals mainly dampened the trading sentiments here. Cloves (superior quality) dropped by Rs 10 to finish at Rs 225-250 against previous mark of Rs 225-260 per kilo.

Dry ginger drifted by Rs 500 to conclude at Rs 6000-8000 instead of Rs 6500-8500 per quintal in view of fresh arrivals against reduced offtake. Mace-red and nutmeg eased by Rs 5/10 to finish at Rs 425-430 and Rs 220-230 from last close of Rs 430-440 and Rs 230-240 per kilo respectively.

Menthol up on industrial demand

Menthol prices went up in the wholesale chemical market on Tuesday following increased offtake by consuming industries amidst restricted arrival from U P mandies and closed with gains.

Elsewhere, other chemicals remained flat in limited deals. Traders said increased offtake by consuming industries amidst restricted arrivals mainly pushed up methol prices.

They said increased enquiries from U P mandi also gave push to rising methol prices. Menthol bold crystal, flake and mentha oil were quoted higher at Rs 855, Rs 850 and Rs 670 against previous mark of Rs 835, Rs 795 and Rs 655 per kilo respectively.

Select pulses weaken on adequate stocks, poor offtake

Select pulses turned weak on the wholesale pulses market on Tuesday on adequate stocks following increased arrivals from producing belts amid lack of demand from stockists and ended lower.

Elsewhere, other commodities continued to be traded on little deals. Marketmen said adequate stocks position against sluggish demand mainly dampened the trading sentiments.

Urad chilka local and best declined to quote at Rs.3900-4200 and Rs.4300-4400 from Rs.4100-4400 and Rs.4800-5000 a quintal respectively. Its dhoya local and best quality fell to Rs.4200-4400 and Rs.4800-5200 a quintal respectively.

Moong chilka and best moved down from Rs.3,900-4,100 and Rs.4350-4600 to Rs.3800-3900 and Rs.4200-4400 a quintal respectively. Moong dhoya local and best quality were too traded lower at Rs.3900-4000 and Rs.4200-4500 instead of Rs.4150-4250 and Rs.4450-4750 a quintal respectively.

Arhar dal dara finished lower at Rs.2550-2650 a quintal. Gramdal local and best followed suit and dipped to Rs.3,200-3,250 and Rs.3325-3500 instead of Rs.3250-3500 and Rs.3375-3550 per quintal respectively.

Nybot Cotton Review: Late Selling Pressures Market

Cotton futures on the New York Board of Trade closed at session lows Monday after a late bout of speculator and fund market-on-close selling pressured the market into the final bell. March cotton closed at 54.81 cents a pound, down 15 points.

Speculator buying was seen early in the session, while trade selling was seen above the 55.00 cents area. Floor brokers and analysts called Monday's session lackluster amid a stark absence of fresh fundamental news to drive price action.

"It was a pathetic day," said Bill Nelson, associate vice president at A.G. Edwards. Nelson did point out that news of lower prices overnight in China was a negative factor for prices on Monday.

Looking at outside markets, Nelson added, "the crop markets are down, gold and silver are lower and crude is down. It just seemed to be a day when there was not much interest in cotton."

One New York floor broker pointed to Tuesday's release of the speculator/hedge report as potential market moving data. "If there is going to be any action this week, it is going to be tomorrow," the broker said.

Sharon Johnson, senior cotton analyst at First Capital Group speculated that Tuesday's spec/hedge report could show speculators net long. "They've been doing a lot of buying over the past week. I would look for it to be slightly long or very close to it," she said.

Market watchers noted that cotton was heading into the slow holiday period and the absence of players could actually leave the market vulnerable to illiquid type of price moves or more volatile trading conditions.

Technically, "we are very overbought," Johnson added. "So several days of sideways action could allow us to work that off then we could move higher."

Estimated volume for Monday was 9,852 futures, according to the exchange. In the options, 3,820 calls and 4,467 puts were seen. Settlement prices in cents per pound with intraday range: