Gold, silver drop on global cues, reduced demand

Gold continued its downtrend at the domestic bullion market here today on reduced demand from retail consumers amid bearish global cues.
Traders attributed the dull demand for the yellow metal to the ongoing 'shradh', a period considered inauspicious by Hindus for making fresh purchases.
Silver also slumped due to heavy speculative unwinding with subdued industrial off-take.
Standard gold (99.5 purity) fell by Rs 100 to close at Rs 26,400 per 10 grams from last Saturday's level of Rs 26,500.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also declined by a similar margin to conclude at Rs 26,550 per 10 grams as compared to Rs 26,650 previously.

Silver (.999 fineness) plunged by Rs 830 to finish at Rs 39,680 per kg as against Rs 40,510 last weekend.
On the global front, gold slid to its weakest since early January and silver to a four-year low in early trade as speculation that the Federal Reserve will start its rate- tightening cycle sooner than expected fuelled selling of precious metals.
Spot gold was down to USD 1,214.84 an ounce and spot silver hit its lowest since June 2010 at USD 17.30 an ounce in early European trade.