Gold continues downtrend on sluggish demand, silver up

Mumbai :Gold prices remained under selling pressure for the third straight session on the domestic bullion market due to lack of buying support from stockists and retailers in the face of global uncertainty.

In contrasts, silver regained marginally after a sharp overnight plunge on the back of stray industrial demand.

Standard gold (99.5 purity) dropped by Rs 75 to end at Rs 24,605 per 10 gm from Wednesday’s closing level of Rs 24,680.

Pure gold (99.9 purity) also fell by a similar margin to finish at Rs 24,755 per 10 gm against Rs 24,830 previously.

However, silver (.999 fineness) moved up by Rs 30 to settle at Rs 34,140 per kg as compared to Rs 34,110 yesterday.

In global trade, gold traded little changed largely weighed down by stronger dollar movements following positive comments from Federal Reserve officials that the central bank was close to hike interest rates as early as next month and also key US macro data release later in the session.

Spot gold was bid higher at USD 1,088.20 an ounce in early European trade and silver quoted at USD 14.56 an ounce.

PTI