Gold advances on retail support; silver drops

Standard gold firmed up by Rs 50, silver dropped by Rs 235

Gold prices advanced further and closed above the Rs 27,000 per 10 grams mark at the domestic bullion market here today due to increased offtake by retail consumers amid ongoing marriage season demand.

In contrast, silver fell back owing to speculative selling coupled with subdued industrial demand.

Standard gold (99.5 purity) firmed up by Rs 50 to end at Rs 27,030 per 10 grams from Friday's closing level of Rs 26,980.

Pure gold (99.9 purity) also moved up by a similar margin to conclude at Rs 27,180 per 10 grams as compared with Rs 27,130 previously.

Silver (.999 fineness), however dropped by Rs 235 to finish at Rs 40,830 per kg against from Rs 41,065 yesterday.

Meanwhile, globally, the shiny metal remained under intense selling pressure and plunged to four-month low on heavy speculative unwinding following stronger US macro data as well as rally in global equity markets.

Gold for August delivery slumped to settle at $1,246 an ounce on the Comex division of NYMEX late yesterday, while silver eased to $18.68 an ounce.