Gold prices crashed by Rs 115 per ten gram and silver plunged by Rs 375 per kilo in the bullion market in Mumbai on Tuesday due to heavy stockists' selling after steep fall in the international prices.
The upward move in US dollar against other major world currencies was deemed the main driver behind the precious metals prices crashing, rendering dollar-denominated gold and silver less appealing, dealers said.
Standard gold (99.5 purity) opened sharply weak at Rs 6185 and continued to fall steeply on increased selling and closed at Rs 6160, revealing a huge loss of Rs 115 over the previous close of Rs 6275.
Similarly, pure gold (99.9 purity), after a notably lower start at Rs 6220, declined further sharply and closed at Rs 6200, showing a steep fall of Rs 110 over Monday's close of Rs 6310.
In Hong Kong, gold fell sharply to end at $427.20-427.70 per ounce as against the last close of $435.60-436.40 and in New York, gold futures plunged by $8.70 on Monday to settle at $429.70 per ounce.
Ready silver (.999 fineness) also started sharply lower a Rs 10,155, but managed to get some low-level support and recovered marginally to end at Rs 10,165, still showing a whopping Rs 375 fall over the previous close of Rs 10,540.
In New York, silver futures fell sharply by 33 cents to settle at $6.507 per ounce on Monday.