Gold prices crossed the Rs 17,900 level for the first time in the history in early trade on the bullion market here today on hectic buying by stockists triggered by overnight sharp rally in New York market.
Silver also firmed up in line with gold on good industrial demand.
Gold futures rose to a record-high in New York yesterday at near $1,188 an ounce, getting a fresh lift on reports of Central Banks were in the market to buy bullion and weakness of dollar against the major currencies.
Climbing for the ninth-straight-session, gold for December rose to as high as $1,187.50 an ounce before ending at $1,187 an ounce on the Comex Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver for December also shot up by 31.3 cents to $18.768 an ounce.
Reports of selling of 10 metric tonnes of gold to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka by International Monetary Fund mainly boosted the market sentiment.
In the local market, standard gold (99.5 purity) shot up by Rs 230 per ten grams to resume at Rs 17,940 from the yesterday's closing level of Rs 17,710.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also hardened to Rs 18,020 per ten grams from Rs 17,800 yesterday.
Silver ready (.999 fineness) moved up by Rs 60 per kilo to Rs 29,380 from Rs 29,320.