Late rise in markets

MARKET REVIEW/ DOMESTIC - BULLION

The domestic bullion market shot up late on Friday taking its cue from international markets, as bullion prices escalated due to the worst US farm pay roll data in the last year.

Both domestic and global trade was initially subdued in apprehension of a favourable US payroll data.

In New York, within a few minutes of the numbers, gold prices shot up to $402 in intra-day trading. Trades closed at $398, up by over $6 from the prevailing range of $392 last week.

Analysts said gold prices were likely to remain firm through the next week with overall high global inflation.

In the domestic market, during the week ended August 7, spot silver (.999) continued rising sharply on higher demand and ended at Rs 10950/kg from last week's Rs 10545/kg.

Spot gold (99.50 purity) in Mumbai closed higher from last week's close of Rs 5990/10g at Rs 6065 per 10 gram. Spot gold (99.90 purity) increased from Rs 6020/10g to Rs 6095/10g.

On the National Commodity Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), the August gold contract witnessed a rise to Rs 5984.85 from Rs 5977.35. The volumes were18500 gram. Open interest stood at 319600 gram.

The September contract increased to Rs 5984.90 from Rs 5976.55, with open positions worth 122100 gram and a volume of contract of 1700 gram. The October contract too closed higher at Rs 5989 compared with last week's close of Rs 5981, with an open interest and volume of 35900 gram and 1400 gram respectively.

The pure gold (kilo) August contract on the contrary closed lower at Rs 5989 from Rs 5998 last week, with an open interest of just 29 kg and a volume of 1 kg.

The September contract closed at Rs 5978, from the previous week of Rs 5972, amid an open interest of 9 kg, with no trades. There were no trades on the October mini-gold contracts as well.

NCDEX August silver futures closed at Rs 10454.80 with an open interest of 37595. The price rose from last week's Rs 10229.55.

The September contract closed up at Rs 10427.85 from Rs 10105.90 last week, with an open interest of 9685 and a volume of 1490. The October silver contract closed higher as well at Rs 10434 compared with Rs 10197. Its open interest stood at 2130.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) the August gold contract fell from Rs 5959 to Rs 5957, amid an open interest of 10 kg and a volume of contract of 8 kg.

The October 5 contract had a healthy open interest of 957 kg and a volume of 474 kg traded. The price rose to Rs 5992 from Rs 5985.

The September silver contract closed higher at Rs 10440 on Friday from Rs 10124 last week. The open positions stood at 75780 kg and the volume of contract was 56580 kg.

The December silver contract closed higher at Rs 10439 on Friday from Rs 10220 last week. The open positions stood at 1770 kg and the volume of contract was 300 kg.