Jeera on NCDEX settled down -1.42% at 19100 tracking weakness in spot demand on profit booking. However downside seen limited amid lower production estimates by Gujarat Agriculture Department in its 3rd advance estimates for 2016/17. As per third advance estimates for 2016/17, production of Jeera in Gujarat revised down to 2.12 lt, down 4% from its 2nd estimates and almost 11% compared to last year production of 2.38 lt. The arrivals have been lower during the first half of current month compared to second half of last month. As per data, during first half of April about 16,441 tonnes of jeera arrived compared to 22,108 during second half of last month.

Turmeric on NCDEX settled up 1.37% at 6216 on lower arrivals and steady increase in demand at lower levels. Moreover, rising exports demand at the spot market too fuelled the uptrend. On the export front, country exported about 89,704 tons during April-Jan period, up by 28.3% compared to last year exports of 69,870 tons. Turmeric arrivals in the country is declining in first 20 days in April to 66,025 tonnes (Apr 1-20) compared to 1,15,768 tonnes during the same period in March, as per data. There are expectations of improved demand in coming weeks as prices are lower. At Erode market arrivals were reported at 8000 quintals, higher by 2500 quintals as compared to previous day. At Nizamabad market arrivals were reported at 15000 quintals, lower by 3000 quintals as against previous day.

Rmseed on NCDEX settled down -0.44% at 3804 tracking weakness in spot demand on oversupply woes in local mandis. Prices of the mustard were down as demand is lower after the crushing disparity fell to Rs 700 per quintal. However, sharp fall in the prices was cushioned by lower arrivals in the local mandis. Mustard arrivals in the country totaled at 460,000 bags (85kg each) against 490,000 bags previous session. Farmers are reluctant to offload their produce at the lower level. Further they mostly prefer in marketing of rabi wheat crop, which is giving them good remunerations.

CPO on MCX settled up 0.16% at 516.8 amid higher export data from Malaysia spurted demand hope. Malaysia palm oil exports during Apr 1-20 jumped 5% as compared to same period a month ago on higher demand from European Union, China, Japan, India Egypt and South Africa, data showed. Malaysia palm oil exports jumped to 719,175 tons during Apr 1-20 compared to 686,741 tons for the same period a month ago, DowJones reported citing data from SGS, a private surveyor. India's palm oil imports from Malaysia during Apr 1-20 rose by 16.07% to 94,600 tons as compared to 81,500 tons imported during Mar 1-20.

Ref. Soya oil on NCDEX settled down -0.19% at 622.05 tracking weakness spot demand despite of lower arrivals in local mandis and on hope of improvement in demand. India's edible oil imports fell a little over 7% on year to 1.10 mln tn in March, according to data from Solvent Extractors' Association of India. In March, overall imports of vegetable oils--comprising edible and non-edible oils--were at 1.11 mln tn compared with 1.19 mln tn a year ago. During Nov-Mar, the country imported 5.7 mln tn of edible oils, down from 6.3 mln tn a year ago. Total imports have declined this year because of a larger crop of oilseeds and consequent higher availability of edible oils, SEA said in a report. A slowdown in consumption growth has also kept imports under check.

Soyabean on NCDEX settled up 0.23% at 3057 on account of diminishing supplies in the domestic market. Meanwhile, soybeans ticked higher in overseas markets, but slowing demand for US shipments kept a lid on the market. The US Department of Agriculture said weekly export sales of soybeans fell to 225,000 tonnes (old-crop and new-crop combined), below trade forecasts for 400,000 to 800,000 tonnes. Soybean arrivals in local mandis are expected to gather pace after May 20. Earlier, data published by SOPA showed. Soybean arrivals in local mandis during March fell by 23% compared to previous month as farmers were reluctant to sell the crop at lower prices.

Menthaoil on MCX settled up 0.39% at 948.2 amid rise in demand in the domestic spot market. Further, tight stocks position on restricted supplies from producing regions, too supported mentha oil prices. However, some gains were capped on the speculation that the area under cultivation can increase this year resulting good production. A better price recovery in mentha oil is expected to boost production of the crop by 12% this year. A large number of small and marginal farmers from Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and other places sowed mentha in January. India exported 21,150 metric tonnes of mentha and allied products, valued at Rs 2,577.59 crore in FY16, according to the Spices Board of India. This was 15.87% in value terms of the total spices exported.

Aluminium on MCX settled down -0.84% at 124.6 on profit booking tracking LME prices fell 0.5 percent amid rise in Shanghai stocks after prices seen supported after news that Xinjiang Jiarun Resources shut down 200,000 mt of disqualified aluminium capacity. Prices seen supported in the week as supporting prices was the inventory draws from London Metal Exchange warehouses, but a rise in Shanghai stocks on Friday limited this bullish sentiment. Still, overall LME holdings are sitting at just 1.7 million tons. Inventories in Shanghai, meanwhile, are at their highest in about a year. Meanwhile, China’s total March aluminium production rose to 2.707 million tons from 2.534 million in February.

Nickel on MCX settled down -1.31% at 604.8 on profit booking tracking weakness in LME prices dropped by 1.5 percent to $9,345 as a smaller discount indicates tighter supply. The discount of LME cash nickel to the three-month contract shrank to $50 a tonne from $67.50 late last month, the largest since January 2015. World's nickel market was in deficit of 20,000 tonnes during the first two months of 2017, according to latest data from World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS). According to WBMS, the supply deficit was 62,000 tonnes for the whole year of 2016. Refined production from January to February 2017 was 272,100 tonnes and demand was 292,200 tonnes.

Zinc on MCX settled down -1.91% at 166.65 tracking LME prices closed 1.8 percent lower at $2,584 as recent price gains have spurred miners around the world to increase output. World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) data show global zinc market was in 177,000 tonnes of deficit during January and February 2017, compared to 258,000 tonnes of deficit in 2016. Global refined zinc output added 6.0% year-on-year in the first two months of the year. Consumption was up 7%, with 87,000 tonnes from Japan, up 16% year-on-year. Global refined zinc demand increased 143,000 tonnes on a yearly basis during January-February. China’s apparent zinc consumption was 967,000 tonnes, representing 44% of global total.

Copper on MCX settled down -0.32% at 363 as worries over political instability and global demand prompted investors to cut bets on higher prices. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange closed flat at $5,622.50 a tonne, leaving it down 1.2 percent in the week. Investors have overestimated global growth and the impact of supply disruptions at major copper mines. The global refined copper market had a 51,000 tonne surplus in January, up from a 44,000 tonne surplus in January last year, the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) said. But the strike at the Escondida mine in February-March meant "next month's report should reflect a tighter market".

Naturalgas on MCX settled down -1.08% at 201.2 as momentum-based traders pile on to a recent losing skid tied to a weak time of year for demand. A late-winter rally has been followed up by a steady retreat throughout April, a time of year when temperate weather often lowers demand for the heating fuel. Further downside price action is also suggested by the recent failure against the upward sloping trendline which had defined price action since the late February low was established. The U. S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U. S. rose by 54 billion cubic feet in the week ended April 14, compared to forecasts for a build of 48 billion.

Crudeoil on MCX settled down -2.82% at 3208 on renewed concerns that increasing U. S. production and high inventories will thwart OPEC's attempts to reduce the global crude glut. Prices fell as doubts emerged over the effect of the OPEC/non-OPEC production cut by almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) during the first half of the year. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, key members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, favour extending their production-limiting deal with non-member producers into the second half of the year. Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak, however, declined to say whether the top oil producer would adhere to an extension before a joint meeting on May 25, saying global stocks were declining.

Silver on MCX settled down -0.52% at 41289 as investors kept an eye on the upcoming French presidential vote that is seen as too close to call. Investors opted for caution ahead of the French presidential election, as opinion polls indicated centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron holds a slender lead over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. According to Opinion-Orpi’s daily poll of voting intentions, centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron would garner 23% of the vote while Marine Le pen would garner 22%. Meanwhile, investors mulled over comments from U. S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, after he said Thursday, the Trump administration is ‘close’ to bringing forward tax reform.

Gold on MCX settled up 0.42% at 29418 as investors awaited the first-round of voting in the presidential French election at the weekend and possible announcements about tax changes in the United States. There was potential for safe-haven buying of gold after France said security forces were fully mobilized for the weekend vote after an Islamist militant killed a policeman Thursday night. Safe-haven demand re-emerged after a French policeman was shot dead and two others were wounded in central Paris on Thursday night in an attack claimed by the Islamic State militant group. Investors were also watching events in Washington.

New Delhi [India], Apr 22 : Pioneer in innovative, smart mobile and virtual reality technologies HTC Corporation has announced the launch of their virtual reality system, HTC VIVE™ making it the first complete VR system available to customers in the India market. VIVE will be available exclusively on Amazon.in via pre-order from April 22nd, 2017.

The site vive.com/in will go live by 25 April 2017. VIVE will soon be available for an in-store experience across select locations in India.

These select locations will be equipped with an interactive VIVE demonstration station, fully open to the public for individual sessions to experience a variety of virtual reality content supported by the platform.

New Delhi [India], Apr 22 : Hotelbeds Group, a global bedbank and business-to-business provider of services to the travel industry on Friday announced plans for GTA to join its Bedbank business unit.

"This deal brings another great bedbank to the Hotelbeds Group family, following the announcement in February that Tourico Holidays will also be integrating with us. Both of these important deals clearly underline our steadfast commitment to accelerate the growth of our business both organically and via M&A activity," said Joan Vila, Executive Chairman of Hotelbeds Group.

New Delhi [India], Apr 22 : Following more than two years of verification and testing, SoftBank Corp., a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. on Friday announced its decision to deploy the Ericsson Radio Dot System across Japan to deliver premium indoor connectivity to its subscribers.

SoftBank began extensive testing of the Radio Dot System and several other indoor solutions in Japan in June 2015 to evaluate its options for meeting the huge demand for better indoor coverage in mid-sized to large buildings.

The Ericsson Radio Dot System proved its ability to enable high-performance voice and data coverage and capacity in a broad range of enterprise buildings and public venues, and will now be deployed for SoftBank later this year.

New Delhi [India], Apr 21 : Before the digital era began, home loan processing was very unpredictable. However, with digitization, a whole new world of instant credit and instant loans was formed.

Technological initiatives coupled with credit processes has transformed the entire customer experience forming a lending ecosystem. Now a day's banks and institutions rely more on credit reports generated by credit information agency - CIBIL for gauging a loan applicant. An applicant with a score of 750 or above can get a home loan smoothly.

Low interest rates on housing loan and IT benefits have induced many to own a property. Nowadays CIBIL is helping borrowers to check the best loan available based on his/her credit scores and history.

Port Blair [India], April 21 : In a first of its kind study, peptides, from the venom of cone snails, have been identified that opens up possibilities of drug research for several human ailments.

The study was conducted by a team of Indian scientists from Port Blair-based National Institute of Ocean Technology, NIOT and Indian Institute of Science, IISc, Bangalore.

They identified short peptides with six amino acids, which globally, is the first small contryphan identified so far.