Precious Metals Prices Plummet - DGCX Volumes Cross 6000 Mark - New records Galore On DGCX – Highest Volumes And Highest Open Interest

A galore of new records were set on DGCX as trading began for the new week. DGCX registered a new record for traded volumes per day with 6062 contracts being traded. It surpassed by miles the earlier record of 4956 contracts traded on April 20, 2006. The open interest in the near-term gold contracts was at a new record high. Finally, precious metals prices plummeted during the day with gold futures registering their biggest single-day fall of over 4%. Silver prices fell by more than 7% during the day.

The new week began on an ominous note with prices of gold falling on strong volumes. DGCX June 2006 gold futures contract opened on a promising note when it began trading at $720.60/troy oz - registering a huge upward gap of $6.60/troy oz as compared to the earlier week’s close. Prices rose for a while and scaled an intra-day high of $724/troy oz. Heavy selling emerged thereafter and the prices tumbled down to an intra-day low of $680/troy oz. Prices recovered slightly towards the end to close the session at $684.50/troy oz. DGCX Gold futures witnessed their highest-ever loss per day of $29.50/troy oz. The earlier record for biggest loss per day was $18.80/troy oz set on April 7, 2006 in the April 2006 expiry contact.

DGCX market recorded its highest-ever daily traded volumes of 6062 contracts. The gold segment also established a new record for the highest volume per day with a total of 4856 contracts being traded in June 2006 maturity series. Open interest in these jumped by 79 contracts to end the day at 1276 - yet another new record high of open interest for near term contract.

Silver prices mirrored the movement in gold prices and fell sharply today by $1.03/troy oz – recording their second biggest fall on the exchange. DGCX July 2006 expiry silver futures opened at $14.400/troy oz – slightly higher than the previous week’s closing price. After moving up to $14.510/troy oz in a short while, prices tumbled down to record a session-low of $12.950/troy oz. A mild recovery towards the end of the session saw prices close marginally up from the low levels - at $13.335/troy oz.

A total volume of 1206 contracts was recorded in respect of DGCX July 2006 expiry silver futures. The open interest went up by 34 contracts and ended the day at 545.

It was a depressing day for the world markets as a whole with a majority of stock markets, precious metals, crude oil and base metals market - all churning losses. June crude futures fell $2.63/barrel or 3.7percent, to close at $69.41 a barrel, its lowest closing level since April 7. The price of base metals like copper, aluminum and zinc also fell during the day. The US dollar on the other hand registered gain against major currencies like Euro, GBP and the Yen.