Rice sela prices recorded a gain of Rs 15 a quintal on strong demand from Bihar buyers. Maize firmed up by Rs 10 a quintal due to restricted supply.Among pulses, moong plummeted by Rs 25-50 at Rs 1550-1740 a quintal on selling pressure from UP, Gujarat and Bihar. Urad Rangoon, small masoor and gram Rajasthani, however, dipped by Rs 10-25 a quintal on stockists selling.

Rajmash chitra further fell by Rs 100 a quintal as ensuing crop prospects were reported bright.

Sesame oil declines

Groundnut oil, in the local market went down by Rs 20 a quintal on weak Mumbai advices and mustard oil remained subdued at Rs 3100 a quintal on weakRajasthan advices. Sesame oil suffered a sharp fall of Rs 50 at Rs 3100 a quintal on selling pressure from Calcutta. As against this, cottonseed oil edged up by Rs 20 s quintal due to off-season.

Among oilseeds, sunfower seed of UP were quoted at Rs 1050 a quintal.Mumbai: Castoroil commercial firmed up on good industrial demand on the oils and oilseeds market here on Saturday.

Castoroil commercial rose by Rs 4 to Rs 384 from Rs 380 previously. Castorseeds Madras jumped to Rs 1770 from Rs 1750 on good export demand. Linseed oil and linseed bold were unaltered at Rs 327 and Rs 1700, respectively.

In futures, castorseeds September contract opened higher at Rs 1784 and shot up further on heavy purchases from exporters to close at Rs 1798 from Rs 1780, showing a net gain of Rs 18.

In castoroil international contract, August and October deliveries were quoted higher at Rs 398 and Rs 404, respectively from Rs 394 and Rs 400.Turning to the edible section, imported palm oil eased to Rs 241 from Friday's closeof Rs 242 on lack of demand from local consumers. However, groudnut oil remained unchanged at Rs 376.

Sugar improves

Mill delivery sugar prices, at the local market, improved by Rs 5-15 a quintal due to restricted supply by the millers coupled with settlement of deals for about 20,000-25,000 bags by the local, UP and Haryana parties. Mawana sugar was traded at Rs 1505, Nadhai at Rs 1380 and Gajroula and Ram-Luxman at Rs 1385 a quintal.

Turmeric tumbles

Turmeric, at the local market, tumbled down by Rs 50-100 a quintal on stockists selling coupled with slack demand from exporters. Cloves slipped by Rs 5 a kg, on profit-taking selling by the stockists while mace marked up by Rs 10 a kg due to fall in import from Singapore. Zeera prices continued to rule firm on encouraging Unjha advices.

Among dry fruits, copra flared up by Rs 50 a quintal on emergence of good wedding demand.

Gold sovereign static

Both the precious metals, at the local bullion market suffered losses onSaturday on weak overseas advices.

As announced earlier, UK will be selling its gold from July 6, 1999, consequently, gold in London dipped by $2 to $259.30 an ounce. as a result, on panic selling by the importers, gold biscuit and standard mint gold plummeted by Rs 30 at Rs 4060 and Rs 4070 per 10 gram, respectively while gold sovereign remained unchanged at Rs 3650-3675 per 8 gram.

New York silver future fell sharply from 515 cents to 507 cents an ounce as bank interest rate in the US are likely to be hiked. Consequently, on importers selling, spot silver. 999 fineness fell by Rs 75 at Rs 7705 a kg and silver weekly delivery, on unloading by the bulls, suffered a sharp setback of Rs 80 at Rs 7700 a kg. Silver coins, however, held steady at Rs 10,400-10,600 per 100 pieces due to restricted supply.

Thymol edges down

Thymol edged down by Rs 5 at Rs 255 per kg as the local export demand fell considerably. DMO prices also shed Rs 5 on lack of trade enquiries.In menthol section, however, steadyprices reports from Uttar Pradesh was able to buoy the market. Mentha oil and flake moved up by Rs 4 per kg after the arrivals as well declined from UP.