Mumbai:- Breaking a short two-day slide, gold prices staged a smart rebound to retrace the Rs 29,000 mark at the domestic billion market here due to brisk buying by jewellery stockists and retailers.
Gold has entered a seasonally strong period and demand is expected to pick up in coming days despite intermediate corrections, a bullion trader said.
Elsewhere, silver also recouped some lost ground on the back of heavy speculative offtake.
Standard gold (99.5 purity) jumped by Rs 300 to end at Rs 29,245 per 10 grams from Thursday’s finish of Rs 28,945.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also rose by a similar margin to settle at Rs 29,395 per 10 grams as against Rs 29,095.
Silver (.999 fineness) climbed by Rs 500 per kg to conclude at Rs 37,850 from Rs 37,350 yesterday.
In the meantime, the yellow-metal retreated sharply in overseas trade after a brief recovery as the ECB-inspired rally proved to short-lived and failed to lift investor sentiment.
Gold touched a fresh 13-month high in overnight trade following highly positive comments from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi that there would be no further interest rate cuts.
On Thursday, the ECB delivered a wide-ranging set of new policies, including lowering deposit rates, intended to boost growth and return inflation to normal levels.
Spot gold was marginally up at USD 1,268.10 an ounce in early European trade, while silver quoted substantially higher at USD 15.57 an ounce.
PTI
