Gold, silver surge to lifetime high on global lead

Riding on a stunning relentless fourth consecutive session rally, silver prices soared to surpass the psychological milestone of Rs 70,000 a kilo mark at the domestic bullion bourses here on the back of strong speculative flows and aggressive cornering by seasonal traders.

Gold too continued its upward journey to attain new highs on consistent demand from stockists and jewellery makers amidst investment buying.

Buoyant international sentiment is the major factor in favour of local market as intense speculative activity has overtaken any kind of demand buying. The meteoric rise in silver clearly indicates the nature of speculation as it gained a hefty Rs 23,600 or 50 per cent since the beginning of the current calendar year.

The precious metals continued its uninterrupted rally in international markets on mounting supportive factors like accelerating inflationary pressure as well as spreading weakness in the dollar valuations including ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.

Silver ready (.999 fineness) galloped by Rs 1,400 per kg to close at Rs 70,810 from Thursday's closing level of Rs 69,410.

Standard gold (99.5 purity) firmed up by Rs 65 per 10 grams to end at Rs 21,825 from Rs 21,760 yesterday.

Pure gold (99.9 purity) also rose by Rs 70 per 10 grams to finish at Rs 21,930 as against Rs 21,860 previously.