Gold, silver maintain an upward march on firm global cues

The prices of both gold and silver maintained an upward march for the third straight day today on increased buying by stockists and jewellers to meet the festive season demand amid a firm global trend.

The prices of both the precious metals, gold and silver, maintained an upward march for the third straight day in the national capital on Saturday on increased buying by stockists and jewellers to meet the festive season demand amid a firm global trend.

While gold zoomed up by Rs 335 to Rs 28,855 per ten grams, after gaining Rs 180 in last two trading sessions, silver rose by Rs 365 to Rs 42,750 per kg after climbing Rs 975 in the previous two sessions.

Traders said increased buying by stockists and jewellers to meet the festive season demand mainly led an upward trend in both gold and silver prices.

Firm global trend on speculation that the demand will increase amid signs of a pickup in the economy in China, the world's second-biggest consumer of the metal, further supported the upsurge, they said.

Gold in New York, which normally set price trend on the domestic front, rose by 0.2 per cent to 1,312.20 dollar an ounce and silver by 1.1 per cent to 20.40 dollar an ounce.

On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity zoomed up by Rs 335 each to Rs 28,855 and Rs 28,655 per ten grams, respectively. Sovereign, however, remained steady at Rs 24,400 per piece of eight gram in scattered deals.

In a similar fashion, silver ready rose by Rs 365 to Rs 42,750 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 465 to Rs 42,700 per kg, respectively.

However, silver coins lacked necessary buying support at prevailing higher levels and plunged by Rs 1,000 to Rs 80,000 for buying and Rs 81,000 for selling of 100 pieces. past fortnight prompting the state government to order a probe.