Precious Metals
SILVER GOLD
D A I L Y B U Z Z
Gold futures, which reached a six-month low on Wednesday, posted the biggest annual slump in three decades as an improving economy cut demand for wealth protection. Silver touched the lowest since July.
Bullion futures for February delivery fell 0.1% to settle at $1,202.30 an ounce at 1:39 p.m. on the Comex in New York, after touching $1,181.40, the lowest since June 28.
Prices fell 28% this year. Investors lost faith in the metal as a store of value as equities rallied and an economic recovery prompted the Federal Reserve to pare its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases.
Silver dropped 36% in 2013 to $19.37 an ounce, the biggest annual drop since 1981.
Assets in exchange-traded products backed by Gold fell 33% to the lowest since 2009 amid sales by billionaires George Soros and John Paulson.
Disposals of 867.8 metric tonne in 2013 were more than the combined inflows in the prior three years, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Silver is the second-worst performer in the S&P GSCI Spot Index of 24 commodities, which declined 2.2%.
Agro Outlook
CHANA DHANIYA
D A I L Y B U Z Z
Cardamom prices rose 0.18 per cent to Rs 676.50 per kg in futures trading today as speculators
indulged in creating positions after demand picked up in demand in spot markets.
At the Multi Commodity Exchange, cardamom for delivery in January rose by Rs 1.20, or 0.18 per cent, to Rs 676.50 per kg in business turnover of 78 lots.
Likewise, the spice for delivery in February edged up by 60 paise, or 0.09 per cent, to Rs 703.10 per kg in 34 lots.
Analysts said fresh positions created by speculators on pick up in demand in the spot market against restricted supplies from producing regions mainly led to rise in cardamom prices at futures trade.
