Gold jumps on good seasonal support; silver extends losses

Gold staged a modest rebound after a brief overnight slide on the bullion market today following renewed offtake by jewellery stockists and retailers amidst seasonal demand. In contrast, silver slumped further due to sustained speculative unwinding as well as sluggish industrial buying.

Standard gold (99.5 purity) rose by Rs 45 to finish at Rs 26,565 per 10 grams from Friday's closing level of Rs 26,520. Pure gold (99.9 purity) also edged higher by a similar margin to settle at Rs 26,715 per 10 grams as against Rs 26,670 previously.

However, silver (.999 fineness) shed Rs 175 to end at Rs 38,600 per kg as compared to Rs 38,775 yesterday.Meanwhile, the shiny-metal settled below the important  $1,200-level in worldwide trade on the back of firm dollar amid caution after the head of the Federal Reserve reiterated that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is giving "serious consideration" to start the process of lifting interest rates later this year.

Gold for April delivery drifted to settle at  $1,199.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the NYMEX late yesterday, while silver softened to USD 17.069 an ounce.