Weak rupee drives gold prices

Hyderabad(NVS): As the rupee crashed in the international market, gold and silver touched dizzy heights during the first four days of the week ended Saturday. However, during last two days the Indian currency gained some lost ground which fuelled hope in the market. As a result, both the precious metals shed a substantial extra weight.

During the week Standard gold (24 carats) declined by Rs 440 per 10 gm and closed at Rs 32,440 per 10 gm against previous week’s closing of Rs 32,840. Ornamental gold followed the suit and was quoted in the range of Rs 31,690 - 31,790 per 10 gm from its previous week’s closing mark of Rs 32,080- 32,180. Silver also declined by Rs 300 per kg and closed at Rs 54,285 per kg from the previous week’s closing of Rs 54,585.

The staple food grains in the principal commodity markets revealed a firm trend. The trend in chilies, coriander, tilseeds, garlic and ginger was steady. On the other hand, tamarind declined by Rs 200 per quintal, so was also turmeric by Rs 100 due to good arrivals. Jeera looked up for higher export earnings thanks to the abolition of VAT on this commodity by the Gujarat government.

Among cereals and pulses the sentiment continued to be from moderate to strong. Tuar, tuar daal and urad and urad daal further appreciated by Rs 100 per quintal each and closed in the ranges of Rs 5,600-6,600 and Rs 5,100-6,100 per quintal respectively. Moong, moong daal remained unchanged, so were also masoor, masoor daal and green gram. The common edible oils like groundnut oil, cottonseed oil, rapseed oil and rice bran oil remained moderate while soyabean oil, kardi oil and vanaspati recorded a marginal appreciation.