Silver prices continued their upward trend for the third consecutive day on renewed buying support from the industry and increased demand from local stockists. With arrivals weak, prices continued to remain firm, marketmen said. The prices of silver .999 closed at Rs 7,725, up by Rs 25 over the previous close of Rs 7,700, while raw silver prices closed at Rs 7,600, up marginally over the previous close. Tenderable silver prices closed steady at Rs 7,730 levels.
Gold prices moved up marginally on fresh seasonal buying and increased demand from upcountry centres. Standard gold prices closed at Rs 4,165 per 10 gm against the previous close of Rs 4,150 per 10 gm, while 22-carat gold prices moved in sympathy, up by Rs 15 to close at Rs 3,855 per 10 gm.
The prices of 10-tola gold bar also continued to inch up from Rs 48,600 levels to Rs 48,900 levels on increased demand from the jewellery industry.
Metals: Prices of non-ferrous metals at the Bombay Metals Exchange remained steady with copper heavy ruling at Rs 11,450 per quintal, utensils at Rs 9,875 per quintal, brass scrap at Rs 88.25 per kg, cuttings at Rs 92 and aluminium at Rs 63 per kg, and nickle at Rs 298 per kg.
Sugar: Sugar prices at the wholesale Navi Mumbai market remained weak on fresh arrivals from the mills and sluggish demand, marketmen said. Small grade prices were Rs 1,460-1,500 per quintal, medium grade at Rs 1,480-1,530 per quintal, large grade, imported exfactory, small at Rs 1,440-1,450 per quintal and medium at Rs 1,460-1,470 per quintal.
Edible oils: Groundnut oil ruled high at Rs 419 per 10 kg, while groundnut oil solvent ruled at Rs 405, castoroil comm at Rs 284, linseed oil at Rs 380, ricebran oil at Rs 202, rapeseed oil ref at Rs 387, soybean oil ref Rs 387, sunflower oil explorer at Rs 398, sunflower oil solvent at Rs 416 and sunflower imported oil at Rs 396.
At the futures market for the castorseed contract, the June prices stood at : June open Rs 1,275, high Rs 1,283, low 1,275 and close Rs 1,283, while September prices stood at Rs 1,340 and closed at Rs 1,343.
Tea: Rejuvenated demand from both exporters and domestic blenders helped both leaf and dust tea prices rally sharply at the Kochi auctions this week. The price increase was notwithstanding a rise in offerings in the leaf category.
In the leaf category, where 6.36 lakh kg were on sale against 4.78 last week, a good demand was witnessed with orthodox broken variety being quoted by Rs eight to Rs 15 a kg higher. Orthodox fannings were quoted higher Rs 6 to 12 higher, while crushed tear curl (CTC) brokens and fannings were dearer by Rs 2-5 a kg.
Best Nilgiri leaf brokens ruled higher at Rs 88-96 a kg against Rs 80-86 last week, while its fannings was up to Rs 86-92 against Rs 80-84.50.
Best CTC leaf brokens increased to Rs 54-68 against Rs 52-60.
Black pepper: Black pepper prices declined sharply on the international commodity exchange at Kochi yesterday on slack demand from exporters for futures contracts, dealers said. "There was poor demand from exporters, who seemed to have covered their positions," they said.
In yesterday's trading, August contracts closed lower at Rs 23,300 a quintal against Rs 23,500 yesterday. July contracts ended up at Rs 22,575 against Rs 22,850 and June at Rs 21,800 against Rs 22,000. In spot trading, garbled pepper finished lower at Rs 21,000 a quintal against Rs 21,100, while ungarbled closed at Rs 20,300 against Rs 20,400.
