Gold in London edged upto $293.70 from $290.90 an ounce and on investors support, gold biscuit and standard mint gold marked up by Rs 35 at Rs 4300 and Rs 4310 per 10 gram, respectively and gold sovereign held steady at Rs 3700-3750 per 8 gram.

Mumbai: Gold and silver closed firm on the bullion market here today. Standard gold moved up by Rs 10 to Rs 4,285 per 10 gm. Gold .22 carat lifted by same margin at Rs 3,965 per 10 gm. in sympathy. Prices of gold biscuit (116.50 gm.) shot up by Rs 300 to Rs 50,300 per piece. Physical buying was dull but speculators were activebuyers amidst eased supplies and higher global advices. In the global market gold climbed from $291 to $294 per ounce.

Silver .999 hardened by Rs 85 to Rs 7,545 per kg. In the ready section silver .916 was up by Rs 95 to Rs 7,435 per kg in sympathy. Industrial buyers were active while traders reported fresh speculative interest for white metal on the back of bullish overseas advices. Fresh inflow however remained restricted - around 200/300 kg. In the overseas market silver placed higher at $5.06 as against $4.96 per ounce earlier.

Wheat dara rises

In mixed market conditions, downtrend in pulses, at the local grains and pulses market continued on Friday.

Following fear of raids and on weak producing centres advices coupled with selling pressure, gram Rajasthani, rajmash chitra and urad were quoted lower by Rs 20-25 a quintal. Arrival of rajmash chitra was reported about 30-35 lorries and gram about 70 lorries.

Among cereals, wheat dara edged up by Rs 5 at Rs 665 a quintal due to restrictedsupply. About 2.50 lakh bags of Turkey wheat, arrived at southern port, which was quoted at Rs 715 a quintal. Roller flour mill atta, maida and suji slipped by Rs 5 per bag due to slack demand.

Groundnut oil flares up

Following restricted supply at lower rates coupled with stockists buying in MP, Gujarat, Mumbai etc., groundnut oil flared up from Rs 4350 to Rs 4600 a quintal. Groundnut oil in Mumbai shot up by Rs 200 at Rs 4600 a quintal and Telia in Rajkot firmed up by Rs 25 at Rs 640 a tin.

Cottonseed and sesame oils climbed up by Rs 50 a quintal because of unfavourable weather conditions. Kharif sesame output is likely to fall by about two lakh tonnes to about four lakh tonnes.

Among industrial oils, rice bran, castor and linseed oils slumped by Rs 50-150 a quintal as buyers withdrew from the market for fear of raids.

Mumbai: Groundnut oil extended gains on the oil,oilseeds market here today. Castorseed and its oil firmed up on the back of overseas support.

Groundnut oil rose byRs 5 to Rs 465 per 10 kg on continued buying coupled with tight supplies. In Rajkot, groundnut oil quoted Rs 10/15 lower at Rs 645/650 per 15 kg on account of rise in new crop supplies.

Imported palm oil closed Rs 2 lower at Rs 362 per 10 kg exclusive of tax due to continued arrivals at Mumbai port. In the global market prices ruled steady at $705 per tonne while forward deliveries were quoted at Rs 685/695 per tonne.

Castor oil gained by Rs 5 to Rs 420/432 per 10 kg on overseas enquiries. Castorseed ready jumped up by Rs 24 to Rs 1,914/1,920 per quintal. Traders reported overseas enquiries for about 1500/2000 tonnes of Indian castor oil today. In the futures section castorseed December delivery edged up by Rs 5 to Rs 1638 per quintal on fresh bull interest in the wake of bullish Gujarat advices. Volume of trading however was slow as major players stayed away awaiting green signal from Forward Market Commission (FMC) for new contract, floor sources said.

Ready delivery was firm at Rs 345/350 per 10 kg.and arrivals of castorseed in the Gujarat region was placed around 4000/5000 bags. it was learnt.

Sugar dips

In the wake of import of 60,000 tonnes sugar from Pakistan recently and due to fear of official raids, mill delivery sugar dipped by Rs 10-15 at Rs 1350-1455 a quintal. Scattered deals in mill delivery sugar Anupshahar were settled at Rs 1365, Bagpat at Rs 1390, Nadhai at Rs 1355 and Chandpur at Rs 1360 a quintal.

Soanf dearer

On profit-taking selling at higher rates, cardamom brown inferior quality slumped by Rs 300 a quintal and turmeric polished was down by Rs 50 a quintal. Soanf recorded a sharp spurt of Rs 300 at Rs 3500-6500 a quintal due to dismal crop prospects.

In the absence of smuggled inflow from Pakistan, poppyseed Pakistani shot up by Rs 500 at Rs 9000 a quintal. Cloves up by Rs 3 at Rs 78 a kg.

Citric acid firm

Citric acid China and Bombay Dyeing flared up by Rs 100-300 at Rs 3650-4400 per 50 kgs. on sharply declined arrivals and buoyant offtake by thestockists. Mentha oil spurted by Rs 19 while menthol flake and bold firmed up by Rs 23-25 at Rs 332, Rs 435 and Rs 475 per kg.DMO and Thymol also moved up by Rs 5-6 per kg.

Ammonia bicarb, on the other hand, lost Rs 25 per kg. on poor demand from bakers.

Nickel plate remains up

Nickel plate firmed up further by Rs 1-2 at Rs 247-288 per kg. in the wake of nearly 5 tonnes buying by Aligarh, Jalandhar and other consuming areas. Zinc slab was in good demand from local units and edged up by 50 paise per kg. further.

Copper wire bar, rod and its wire moved up again by 50 paise per kg. after the illegal arrivals declined. Aluminium rod eased by Re. one at Rs 94 per kg. on stockists profit-taking selling.