Silver .999 rose by Rs 20 at Rs 8,670 per kg. Silver .916 rose by Rs 15 at Rs 8,540 per kg in sympathy. Industrial buying continued while thin supplies and higher Delhi and overseas advices kept silver prices firm. In Delhi forward silver was up at Rs 8,600 per kg. Ready silver was quoted at a discount of Rs 15/20 per kg against forward silver. In the global market silver climbed up from $6.21 to $6.32 an ounce.

Standard gold finished static at Rs 4,160 per 10 gm. Gold .22 carat remained unchanged at Rs 3,850 per 10 gm. Prices of gold biscuit (116.50 gm.) maintained at Rs 48,800 per piece after gaining Rs 100 on Monday. Prices were down by Rs 1200 during last week.

Seasonal demand was dull but eased supplies and firm overseas advices kept gold quiet. In the global market the yellow metal placed at $304.50/305 an ounce. Market sentiment was firm at close on news of rally in dollar prices againstrupee.

G'nut oil up

Groundnut oil lifted on the oil,oilseeds market here todays. Castorseed and its oil ruled firm in the ready delivery while prices remained unchanged in the forward section.

Groundnut oil closed a rupee higher at Rs 422 per 10 kg. on steady seasonal buying coupled with restricted inflow. In Rajkot prices placed higher at Rs 610/615 per 15 kg. Imported palm oil shot up from Rs 374 to Rs 382 per 10 kg exclusive of tax amidst hectic demand from vanaspati industry coupled with rally in the overseas market. In the global market palm oil quoted higher by $10 at $720 per tonne on account of acute shortage of ready stock. Long deliveries were available at $710/690 per tonne, it was gathered.

Castor oil closed a rupee higher at Rs 279/291 per 10 kg . Castorseed ready was up by Rs 5 at Rs 1237/1243 per quintal on eased supplies. Arrivals of castorseed in the Gujarat region dropped to 40000/42000 bags as against 50000 bags recorded on Monday.

Meanwhile in the futures sectioncastorseed June delivery moved in a narrow range and closed steady at Rs 1,261 per quintal. In Ahmedabad it was quiet at Rs 1251.50 per quintal. September delivery was placed at Rs 1316 per quintal.

Sugar gains

Sugar price firmed up afresh in the wake of higher cost of imported sugar resulting from the levy of sales tax.

With the imported sugar becoming costlier the price of indigenous sugar netted fresh gains of Rs 15 a quintal. M-30 rose to Rs 1545-1580 and S-30 to Rs 1500-1560 ex-godown. Ex-octroi checkpost, the former went up to Rs 1535-1570 and the latter to Rs 1520-1530.

Deals in imported sugar remained confined to out of Maharashtra sales. Brazilian white ruled at Rs 1400 and Pakistani at Rs 1475.

Yarn bearish

Bearish trend strengthened its sway on polyesters in the yarn market.Poor demand and acute financial stringency continued to tell on the health of polyester yarn business. Price of popular items lost Rs 4 to 5 a kg afresh on panicky offerings. Grey first quality ofmedium-sized units, 80dn rotoset moved down to Rs 87-90, weft to Rs 83-84 and warp to Rs 92-95. Micro rotoset shed a rupee at Rs 100.

150dn ruled steady. Weft were quoted at Rs 74, warp at Rs 85-86, single rotoset at Rs 78 and double rotoset at Rs 80.

Meanwhile, Reliance has hiked the price of PTA by Rs 900 a tonne at Rs 23,100.

Gram ends lower

A dull-to-weak trend was in evidence on the grains market following sluggish offtake.

Kabuli gram A-2 were placed at Rs 2600 and B-2 at Rs 2300, down by Rs 100. C-2 lost Rs 150 at Rs 1550-1600. Australian gram were difficult to be put through at Rs 1075-1100 as the indigenous MP and Rajasthan materials were on offer at Rs 1085-1090, averred trade sources. Green peas USA declined by Rs 50 at Rs 1550-1575. Canadian shed Rs 10 at Rs 1161. White peas Canadian were traded at Rs 905-925. Urad Myanmar price also dropped down by Rs 50 at Rs 1050-1075 on poor demand. Moong Myanmar continued to be traded at Rs 1750-2000.

Rajma chitra deshi and imported werequoted at Rs 2300 and at Rs 2200 respectively. Red rajma imported were transacted at Rs 1950.

Wheat and rice ruled quietly steady. Wheat milling were placed at Rs 580-585. Bengal Deshi improves.

A steady-to-better trend prevailed on the cotton market.

Bengal Deshi price netted fresh gains of Rs 10 a maund at Rs 1525-1570 spot on tight supply. J-34 saw-ginned good average ruled at Rs 1960-2005 and cart-selected at Rs 2065-2145.

V-797 at Rs 14,700-15,000, Morbi wagad at Rs 14,400-14,500 and kala-ginned at Rs 13,400 a candy. Sanker ruled in the range of rs 13,400.

Metals firm

Prices of copper and brass improved while tin edged up on the non-ferrous metals market here today.

Copper prices of all grades improved by fifty paise and prices of brass scrap and sheets cuttings also rose by fifty paise each on good demand from industrial users.

coupled with better overseas advices, dealers said.

Prices of zinc and tin also ruled higher due to poor stockists offering.

Spicesreport

Black pepper rules firm

Mumbai, may 5 (pti) black pepper prices closed firmer on account of good offtake at the spices market here today.

Black pepper ready gained by rs 100 to rs 12,100 per 50 kgs from the last close of rs 12000 in the wake of good enquiries from exporters.

Copra rajapur in mumbai declined by rs 50 to rs 4250 per quintal from the previous close of rs 4300 on account of adequate stocks.

Following are today's quotations with previous in brackets: (all per quintal unless otherwise stated)

black pepper ready (per 50 kgs) rs 12100 (rs 12000), ginger bleached rs 3300 (rs 3300), ginger unbleached rs 3700 (rs 3700), copra office loose alleppey rs 2600 (rs 2600), copra office loose calicut rs 2625 (rs 2625), copra rajapur rs 4250 (rs 4300) and copra edible rs 3650 (rs 3650).