Groundnut oil continued to decline while most other edible oils ruled easy-to-steady at the wholesale oils and oilseeds market here yesterday. Imported palmolein too ruled easy.
In the futures market, castorseed December contract remained untraded while the March `99 contract opened lower and lost further ground towards close.
Groundnut oil weakened further by Rs 8 at Rs 402 per 10 kg
Castor oil commercial and BSS qualities declined further by Rs 15 each to Rs 370 and Rs 384 per 10 kg respectively. Mowra oil and karanji oil fell by Rs 10 and Rs 15 to Rs 330 and Rs 310 per 10 kg respectively. Cottonseed oil washed and refined fell Rs 2 each to Rs 356 and Rs 358 per 10 kg.
Imported palmolein softened further by Rs 2 at Rs 346 per 10 kg.
In the futures market, March `99 contract opened Rs 20 lower at Rs 1,480. It later declined to close at Rs 1,475. Castorseeds Madras and Maharashtra dipped further by Rs 72 each to Rs 1,680 and Rs 1,674 a quintal respectively.
Kardi seeds and nigerseeds Madras eased by Rs 50 and Rs 25 to Rs 1,800 and Rs 1,725 a quintal respectively. All other oilseeds ruled overall steady.
Sugar: A firm-to-upward trend continued in sugar prices here yesterday on the prime minister's announcement that the duty on sugar imports would be enhanced shortly. Both grades ruled firm.
Sugar S-30 improved to Rs 1,425-1,460 a quintal against its previous close of Rs 1,420-1,448 .
Sugar M-30 firmed up to Rs 1,451-1,509 a quintal against the previous close of Rs 1,443-1,500. Sugar for the check-post deliveries were quoted higher at Rs 1,412-1,430 a quintal for S-30 and Rs 1,435-1,455 a quintal for M-30.
Non-ferrous metals: Most metal prices except brass sheetcuttings ruled overall steady here yesterday.
In scraps, brass sheetcuttings looked up by 25 paise to Rs 84 a kg. All other metals ruled overall steady. Copper heavy scraps was quoted at Rs 102.50 per kg, copper utensils at Rs 89.50, brass utensils Rs 79.50 and aluminium utensils at Rs 64 a kg respectively.
In virgins, all metals ruled overall steady. Copper wirebar was quoted at Rs 114.50 a kg, aluminium ingots at Rs 86, zinc slabs at Rs 71, lead ingots Rs 39, tin slabs Rs 375 and nickel cathodes at Rs 258 a kg respectively.
Bullion: A divergent trend was witnessed in both the precious metals on the local bullion market. Silver ruled easy while gold firmed up. In white metal, silver .999 and .916 declined further by Rs 10 and Rs 15 to Rs 7,400 and Rs 7,295 a kg.
In the yellow metal, both standard and .22 carat firmed up by Rs 5 each to Rs 4,315 and Rs 3,990 per 10 grammes. Gold biscuit prices too looked up by Rs 100 at Rs 50,700 per piece.
