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The pepper market after remaining highly volatile moved up on Wednesday on circular trading after the bulls got back into the driving seat. Consequently all the active contracts closed above the previous day’s closing prices.
The market opened at Rs 34,100 a quintal and then fell to touch the lowest price of Rs 33,975 a quintal, down by Rs 175 from the opening price in the afternoon. However, in the evening session, it moved up and touched the highest price of the day at Rs 34,765, up by Rs 790 a quintal from the lowest price of the day. Amid high volatility, the last traded price was at Rs 34,515. The last half-hour average price was given as the closing price.
Of the total turnover, 86 per cent was in February while it was 11 per cent in March and 3 per cent in April. In spite of the high turnover, February open interest was down by 6 tonnes, implying good circular trading by the bull operators who got back and pushed the prices up as the fundamentals were in their favour, market sources told Business Line .
Farmers, small and medium traders claimed that the high volatility in the market was making it not conducive to them because of the continuous tug of war between both the operators.
They said that the 4 per cent daily fluctuation band for the Rs 400 a kg commodity was not in their interest and hence it should be brought down to 2.5 per cent.
Fresh arrivals
On the spot, 17 tonnes of fresh pepper arrived. As they were of high moisture content, said to be 24 per cent, and with 450 GL bulk density, the material was traded at Rs330 a kg. Total off take was around 19 tonnes.
February contract on the NCDEX increased by Rs 290 a quintal to close at Rs 34,465 a quintal while March and April also moved up by Rs 140 and 90 a quintal respectively to close at Rs 33,825 and 33,750 a quintal.
Total turnover rose by 675 tonnes to close at 1,599 tonnes. Total open intererest went up by 29 tonnes to close at 3,678 tonnes.
February open interest declined by 6 tonnes to 2,806 tonnes while that of March and April increased by 10 tonnes and 25 tonnes respectively to close at 692 tonnes and 159 tonnes.
Spot prices in tandem with the futures market trend went up by Rs300 a quintal to close at Rs36,800 (ungarbled) and Rs38,300 (MG 1) a quintal.
Indian parity in the international market was at $7,300 a tonne (c&f) at spot prices of Rs 383 a kg while at February futures market price it was at $6,600 a tonne (c&f).
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