Sentiment remained weak on the country’s commodities exchanges. Despite the negative trend, prices of most metals and commodities continued to trade in a narrow range.

There was no major recovery on the agri-business or spice counters. Cardamom alone bucked the trend and witnessed some buying interest. Rubber lost some of its early morning gains and was slipping into negative territory.

Base metals lost ground on the London Metal Exchange and similar trends are evident on the Indian bourses as well. Gold and silver prices also tended lower.

Crude was quoting steady at Rs 5,300 a barrel on the Multi Commodity Exchange. Analysts did not expect an immediate surge in crude prices as the US is contemplating opening its crude reserves to counter Iran’s postures.

Rupee lost 0.9 per cent of its value and was quoting at Rs 51.03 against the dollar.

Earlier, the prices of several commodities including pepper, cardamom and other spices weakened on the Indian commodity exchanges. Similar sentiments were in evidence across agri commodities as well. Rubber alone showed some firm trends in a weak choppy market.

Gold and silver also came under selling pressure in the opening session. The Indian rupee also evidenced some weakness.

The subdued sentiment in the market has resulted in low volumes, in evidence at the exchanges during the past few days. The upcoming Easter holidays could shore up demand and set the trend in the coming days.

The US Fed has decided that further quantitative easing is not required to boost the US economy, which is welcome news for the commodity markets. This acted as a positive trigger, strengthening the dollar and weak sentiments were evident in gold. Gold prices were reported to have fallen by as much as $40 per troy ounce last evening.

The cyclonic storm coming into Japan is likely to have a negative impact on global commodity prices.

>cj@thehindu.co.in

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