Gold dips on global cues

In the domestic market, the price of standard gold today plunged to a week low at Rs 9,050 per 10 gm, a drop of Rs 150 or 1.6 per cent, following a slump in the metal's international prices.

The price of pure gold too nose-dived to close the day at Rs 9,100 per 10 gm.

Although experts attribute the decline to the global weak sentiment in metals, analysts said the fall was due last month.

"Ideally, the gold price in London should have steadily come down to $610 an ounce, but a drastic fall of $12 in a day made the yellow metal touch such a lower," said Bhargav Vaidya of B N Vaidya & Associates.

In fact, the precious metal saw a turnaround after declining marginally "� amid the New Year mood "� to $640 on Wednesday.

There has been no fresh funds coming into commodities, especially gold.

The metal would surely see inflows from the US hedge funds in the second part of the current month, which would take the prices up, Vaidya said.

In the domestic market, stockists should make their positions for assured returns once the yellow metal went down below the Rs 9,000 per 10 gm level, he added.

Long-term outlook on gold remains positive on expectations that the dollar will weaken on concerns about US economic growth, which will be determined by data to be released this week.

The data might provide cues about the dollar outlook and set direction for the precious metals market.