Gold eases on muted buying, silver slips below Rs 44,000

Gold prices eased at the domestic bullion market here today on lower offtake from stockists and traders as well as subdued local buying interest despite positive global cues.
Silver dropped on speculative profit-booking after its recent rally on the back of reduced industrial buying fizzled out.
Standard gold (99.5 per cent purity) declined by Rs 70 to close at Rs 30,475 per 10 grams from Wednesday's closing level of Rs 30,545.
Pure gold (99.9 per cent purity) also went down by a similar margin to finish at Rs 30,625 per 10 grams as against Rs 30,695 previously.
Silver (.999 fineness) went down by Rs 650 per kg to end at Rs 43,730 as against yesterday's level of Rs 44,380.

Globally, gold firmed up as uncertainty over the outcome of the US election lingered, which weakened the dollar and added to the safe haven appeal for the bullion, offsetting signals from the Federal Reserve that it could hike interest rates next month.

Spot gold rose 0.5 per cent to USD 1,303.42 an ounce in early European trade. The yellow metal touched a high of USD 1,307.76 in the previous session, its best since October 4.
US gold futures were down 0.3 per cent at USD 1,304.70 per ounce.
Among other precious metals, silver was up 0.8 per cent at USD 18.57 an ounce. It hit a high above USD 18.73 on Wednesday, its best level since October 4.