Sowing of kharif crop was hit hard in Rajasthan and northern India due to paucity of rains, consequently, major pulses prices flared up by Rs 15-50 a quintal on hectic buying by the stockists as well as dal millers coupled with firm producing centres advices. As compared to last Thursday, urad Rangoon flared up by Rs 75 at Rs 2625 and new moong of UP recorded a sharp rise of Rs 150 at Rs 2025 a quintal.

Among cereals, despite loading of a rake from Azadpur vegetable mandi, wheat dara remained subdued at Rs 607-625 a quintal as daily arrivals was estimated to be about 20,000 bags. Jowar yellow and white tumbled down by Rs 40-50 at Rs 500-800 a quintal due to sluggish demand from seed traders because of paucity of rains.

Edible oils up
Mustard, soyabean, cottonseed and sunflower mill delivery oils, in edible section, went up by Rs 30-50 a quintal on emergence of good demand from millers coupled with restricted supply from the producing mandies.

Adulterated groundnut oil in Mumbai was quoted at Rs 4050 and pure white groundnut oil was quoted at Rs 4250 and in Gujarat at Rs 4280 a quintal. Palmolein in Malaysia remained subdued at $302.50 a tonne.

Among industrial oils, mahuwa oil fell by Rs 50 a quintal on selling pressure. Similarly, palmfatty drifted lower by Rs 50 at Rs 1800-2000 a quintal on consistent inflow of imported palmfatty from Kandla.

Zeera flares up
Though there is a strong demand in betelnut from domestic pan masala industries, yet, on pressure from Karnataka and Kerala lobby, import duty on betelnut was hiked from 35 per cent to 100 per cent, consequently, betelnut prices here edged up by Rs 3 at Rs 112-125 a kg. Zeera and Kalaunji flared up by Rs 100-500 a quintal on support from pickel manufacturers as well as other bulk buyers.

Turmeric tumbled down by Rs 50-100 a quintal due to slack demand from exporters coupled with weak south advices and water melon kernel fell sharply by Rs 200 at Rs 3800 a quintal due to lack of buying by the halwais.

Among dry fruits, almond California and its kernel again firmed up on holding of stock by the importers. Pistachio slipped by Rs 15 at Rs 460 a kg due to poor offtake.

Bullion remains subdued
In a dull and featureless trading, both the precious metals, at the Delhi bullion market remained subdued on Monday.

Though silver in Hong Kong showed signs of improvement at 499 cents an ounce, yet on inflow of 5000 kg of imported silver on Saturday as against 2000 kg, spot silver .999 fineness remained unchanged at Rs 7810 a kg. For the past few weeks, monsoon rains in Rajasthan and the northern India remained scanty. Silver weekly delivery slipped from Rs 7830 to Rs 7825 a kg in lack-lustre trading.

Silver coins also remained subdued at Rs 10,700-10,800 per 100 pieces.Gold in Hong Kong ruled firm at $284 an ounce, yet due to paucity of rains in many parts of northern India and Rajasthan, gold biscuit and standard mint gold failed to reflect any change at Rs 4550 and Rs 4560 per 10 gram, respectively.

Gold sovereign also remained subdued at Rs 3800-3825 per 8 gram.

Mumbai: Gold prices turned weak on the bullion market here on Monday due to poor demand coupled with weak overseas advices. Silver, however, improved on thin supply.

Activity in gold was weak in the overseas market ahead of the Bank of England gold auction on July 12, traders said.

Standard gold declined by Rs 10 to Rs 4540 from the last close of Rs 4550. 22-carat gold was nominally quoted weak at Rs 4200 as against the weekend level of Rs 4210, while ten-tola gold bar (.999 purity) held steady at Rs 53,300.

Raw silver (.916 fineness) rose smartly by Rs 30 to end at Rs 7860 as against the previous close of Rs 7830. Ready silver (.999 fineness) and tenderable silver improved marginally by Rs 5 each to Rs 7975 and Rs 7980 from the last close of Rs 7970 and Rs 7975, respectively.