Tracking the rise in oil

MARKET REVIEW: Domestic / BULLION

Prices of gold and silver in the domestic market have been rising since September 21 when security fears triggered a rally in crude prices.

Global markets saw higher bullion prices as safe haven assets saw demand from buyers, especially hedge funds, on the back of a weaker dollar, and correlation between gold and euro.

The spot London gold fix rose from last weeks $418.10 (PM) to close at $ 421.75 on Friday while the benchmark December futures contract on the Comex in New York traded higher and closed at $424.40 on Friday.

In the domestic market, the buying rose ahead of the festival season. In the week ended October 9, spot gold (99.50 purity) in Mumbai closed higher from last week's close of Rs 6335 at Rs 6365 on Friday per 10 gram. Spot gold (99.90 purity) closed at Rs 6405 on Friday from last week's Rs 6365.

Silver enjoyed higher industrial demand and copper prices rose to. Spot silver (.999) closed sharply higher from last week's close of Rs 11025 to end at Rs 11475 per kilogram. The futures market gained too.

On the National Commodity Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), the October gold contract ended on Friday at Rs 6273 from Rs 6272 last week. The volumes were 49000 gram. Open interest stood at 495800 gram.

The November contract rose to Rs 6274 from Rs 6261, with open positions worth 185200 gram and a volume of contract of 14300 gram.

The December contract was Rs 6274 compared with last week's close of Rs 6264, with an open interest and volume of 54400 gram and 5800 gram respectively.

The new December 7 contract of Sona (.995) traded at Rs 6240 from Rs 6250 last week. The open interest was 32 with 8 lots traded.

The February 7 contract traded at Rs 6250 from Rs 6185 with an open interest of 10. The Chandi contract of December 7 closed at Rs 11114 compared with Rs 10805 last week, with an open interest of 3630.

NCDEX October silver futures closed at Rs 11097 with an open interest of 66905. The price rose from last week's Rs 10747.

The November contract closed at Rs 10748 compared with Rs 10264 last week. The open interest closed at 19250 kilogram while the volume of contract stood at 15720.

The November silver contract closed at Rs 11072 compared with Rs 10742 last week, with an open interest of 33840 and volume of 3715.

The December contract closed from Rs 10742 last week at Rs 11070, with an open interest of 14160 and a volume of 690.

On the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) the December gold closed at Rs 6265 from Rs 6269 with an open interest of 3044 kg and a volume of 825 kg.

The December GoldHNI (High Net Worth Individuals) contract closed at Rs 6173 on Friday after opening at Rs 6175. The open interest stood at 33 kg with 84 kg volumes.

The gold mini contract for December closed at Rs 6262 from Rs 6267 with an open interest of 61 kg and a volume of 6 kg.

The December 3 silver contract closed higher again at Rs 11107.00 on Friday from Rs 10742.00 last week. The open positions stood at 169410 kg and the volume of contract was 51090 kg.

The March 2005 contract traded at Rs 11065 from Rs 10659 with 1500 kg positions open, and a volume of 150 kg.