Gold falls to Rs22,840; silver slips by Rs3,700

Gold tumbled from record high to Rs22,840 per 10 grams, losing Rs335 today due to heavy offloading by speculators, driven by a weakening global trend. Silver also shed Rs3,700 to Rs67,800 per kg on poor offtake by industrial units.
    
Silver coins also plunged by Rs4,500 to Rs72,500 for buying and Rs73,500 for selling of 100 pieces.
    
Traders said selling pressure gathered momentum following reports that silver futures plunged by 13% in Asian region, the biggest intra-day drop since October 2008, as CME Group raised the amount of cash that traders must deposit for speculative positions.
    
Fall in demand at existing high levels also dampened the trading sentiments, they added.
    
Gold in global markets, which normally sets price trend on the domestic front, shed $9.30 to $1,556.40 and silver dipped by 5.38% to $45.36 an ounce.
    
On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5% purity plummeted by Rs335 each to Rs22,840 and Rs22,720 per 10 grams, respectively.
    
The yellow metal had climbed to Rs23,175 per 10 grams in the previous trading session.
    
Sovereigns followed suit and lost Rs100 to Rs18,400 per piece of eight grams.
    
Similarly, silver ready declined by Rs3,700 to Rs67,800 per kg and weekly-based delivery shed Rs4,650 to Rs65,950 per kg.