Gold slips on weak buying; silver revisits Rs 37,000/kg-mark

Gold prices declined marginally at the domestic bullion market today due to reduced offtake by jewellery stockists and lack of local buying interest at existing levels. In contrast, silver rallied further owing to sustained demand from industrial users amid good speculative buyout and reclaimed the Rs 37,000 per kg level.

After an impressive weekend relief rally, sentiment was quickly dampened amid light profit-taking on concerns that the government may take more steps to curb gold import which has seen a sharp surge in the recent months, putting pressure on the Current Account Deficit.

India's gold import surged almost four times to USD 4.17 billion in October from USD 1.09 billion in the same month a year ago. This pushed trade deficit to USD 13.35 billion from USD 10.59 billion in October last year.

Standard gold (99.5 purity) moved down by Rs 25 to end at Rs 26,375 per 10 grams as compared to Saturday's closing level of Rs 26,400. Pure gold (99.9 purity) also softened by a similar margin to conclude at Rs 26,525 per 10 grams from Rs 26,550.

Silver (.999 fineness), however, rose by Rs 165 to end at Rs 37,005 per kg against weekend level of Rs 36,840. On the global front, the yellow metal traded marginally higher on weak dollar, but the upside was capped due to some selling by funds.

Spot gold was bid up at USD 1,188.20 an ounce in early European trade.