<div>India, the world's biggest buyer of bullion, will stop futures trading in precious, base metals and energy futures on Saturdays with immediate effect, in line with global practices, a move that could hurt already sagging volumes at the Multi Commodity Exchange.<br /><br />However, trading in futures of agricultural commodities will continue on Saturdays for now and will be reviewed after three months, the Forward Markets Commission, which regulates commodity futures exchanges, said in a statement.<br /><br />The move could further dent volumes, which are already down due to the imposition of the commodity transaction tax from July, and higher margins.<br /><br />"Already volumes had been falling from July on MCX. With today's announcement we might see a further fall. Retail traders may opt to close their positions on Friday itself," said Sumit Mukherjee, an analyst with Karvy Comtrade in Hyderabad.<br /><br />MCX recorded an average volume of Rs 2015 crore on Saturdays from July to September, about 7 per cent of the daily weekday volume of 269.72 billion rupees, data from the exchange showed.<br /><br />(Reuters)<br /> </div>
