Gold slips below Rs 26,000-mark on weak demand

Mumbai:Gold fell back after a brief overnight bounce and closed below the Rs 26,000-mark at the domestic bullion market here due to reduced stockists demand in the face of a global slide.

Elsewhere, silver continued to witness intense selling for the third straight session following consistent unwinding by traders as well as lack of industrial demand.

The yellow metal dipped to a one-month low in worldwide trade against the backdrop of ongoing uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike amid stronger than expected macroeconomic data.

Standard gold (99.5 purity) declined by Rs 40 to finish at Rs 25,960 per 10 grams from Friday’s closing level of Rs 26,000.

Pure gold (99.9 purity) also moved down by a similar margin to end at Rs 26,110 per 10 grams compared with Rs 26,150 earlier.

Silver (.999 fineness) plunged by Rs 285 per kg to close at Rs 35,195 from Rs 35,480 yesterday.

On the global front, gold for December delivery fell to settle at USD 1,103.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the NYMEX late yesterday and silver December contract also eased to USD 14.505 an ounce.