Gold remains rangebound, silver crashes

INTERNATIONAL REVIEW / BULLION

Prices of gold in the international markets once again traded within the range, while silver saw a huge sell off that resulted in a crash in the prices.

In the overseas markets, on the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex, the benchmark June gold closed at $436.10 from 435.60 per troy ounce last week. The spot London gold fix too closed the week slightly higher at $ 435.70 (PM) from $ 434.60 (PM) last week.

In the local market, during the week ended April 30, both precious metals tracked the international markets. Spot gold (99.50 purity) in Mumbai closed at Rs 6,200 per 10 gram the from Rs 6,220.00 last week. Spot gold (99.90 purity) closed at Rs 6,235 after last week's Rs 6,255.00.

Spot silver (.999) too closed lower at Rs 10,550 from last week's Rs 10,880.00 per kilogram. Spot silver also fell to close at $6.94 from $7.27.

Futures trading saw a dip in the weekly prices, however, the open interest moved upwards indicating a positive trend in the short term. On the National Commodity Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), the May gold closed lower at Rs 6,238.00 compared with last week's close of Rs 6,254.00. Open interest and volume were at 503200 gram and 55700 gram respectively.

The June gold contract closed at Rs 6,257.00 from Rs 6,275.00 with an open interest and volume of 1,60,200 gram and 27,700 gram respectively.

Silver contract in May on NCDEX closed at Rs 10,555 compared with Rs 10,818 last week. The open interest closed at 1,28,500 kilogram while the volume of contract stood at 65,585.

The June contract closed at Rs 10,603.00 from Rs 10,828.00 last week, with open interest of 51,930 and a volume of 23,265.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) the May 31 contract closed at Rs 6,260.00 from Rs 6,273.00 last Monday with an open interest of 321 kg, and a volume of 14 kg.

The August contract closed at Rs 6,227.00 from Rs 6,240.00 with open interest of 3,355 kg and a volume of 1,219 kg.

The June Gold HNI (High Net Worth Individuals) contract closed at Rs 6,052.00 from Friday's Rs 6,080.00 Monday, with an open interest of 15 kg and no volumes.

HNI Silver May closed at Rs 10,150.00 from Rs 10,214.00 last week, with an open interest of 3,600 kg. The May 5 silver contract rose to close at Rs 10,415.00 from Rs 10,776.00 last week.

The open positions stood at 1,57,860 kg and the volume of contract was 96,420 kg.The July contract of silver closed at Rs 10,563.00 up from Rs 10,839.00 last week with an open interest of 19,5780 kg and a volume of 17,9940 kg.