Gold drops in listless trade, silver also slumps

MUMBAI: Gold prices eased at the bullion market here today on reduced off-take from stockists and investors amid mute local buying interest despite moderate recovery in global markets.

Silver maintained its downtrend and slumped further to drop below the Rs 41,00 per kg mark following heavy speculative selling.

Standard gold of 99.5 per cent purity declined by Rs 35 to finish at Rs 26,650 per 10 gm from Wednesday's closing level of Rs 26,685.

Pure gold of 99.9 per cent purity also moved down by a similar margin to end at Rs 26,790 per 10 gm from Rs 26,825.

Silver ready (.999 fineness) dropped by Rs 530 to conclude at Rs 40,990 per kg as against Rs 41,520 yesterday.

On global front, gold gained as dollar steadied in view of a possible slower pullback of stimulus programme by US Federal Reserve.

In London, spot gold bid up at $ 1,278.56 an ounce in early trade and silver also bid higher at $ 19.40 an ounce.