Gold falls Rs 500, silver sheds Rs 1,700

Both gold and silver tumbled in thebullion market on Thursday due to reduced offtake by stockists and jewellerymakers at existing higher levels amid a weak global trend.

While gold plunged by Rs 500 to Rs 26,440 per 10 grams,silver lost Rs 1,700 to Rs 53,500 per kg on sluggish demand.

Trading sentiment turned bearish after gold declined in New York as threeconsecutive weeks of decline encouraged investors to refrain from making freshpurchases.

Gold in global markets, which normally sets the price trendon the domestic front, recorded a sharp fall of $40 to $1,609.70 an ounce andsilver by 6.12 per cent to $29.93 an ounce in New York last night.

In addition to this a sluggish local demand at existinghigher levels and reduced offtake by industrial units further fuelled the downtrendin the precious metal.

On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purityplummeted by Rs 500 each to Rs 26,440 and Rs 26,300 per 10 grams, respectively.It had lost Rs 75 yesterday.

However, sovereigns remained in demand and advanced by Rs100 to Rs 21,700 per piece of eight grams.

In line with a general weak trend, silver ready dropped byRs 1,700 to Rs 53,500 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 1,260 to Rs 52,440per kg, respectively.

Silver coins tumbled by Rs 2,000 to Rs 60,000 for buying andRs 61,000 for selling of 100 pieces.