But the glee of the investor was not shared by the retail buyer, who ended up paying Rs 1,115 higher for 10 grams of gold in December compared to the beginning of this year.
Silver too created history on the bullion market during the year when it touched a new peak of Rs 13,365 per kg on heavy offtake by stockists and investors towards the fag-end in line with the trend in the global market, which witnessed frantic buying, mainly by Japanese investors.
The record-breaking journey by the metals started on December two and lasted for nine days, during which standard gold zoomed by a whopping Rs 680 per 10 gram silver by Rs 1,055 per kg.
The total gain during the year for gold was Rs 1,115 and for silver Rs 1,765. As the rise and fall in prices in India is linked with the global trend, gold shot up to a high of $541 per ounce and silver jumped up to $9.09 per ounce in the global market due to heavy buying by investors as a hedge against inflation, which boosted the sentiment in India too.
The previous all-time high recorded by the yellow metal in the international market was $873 per ounce in 1980.
Heavy demand for the metals in the world market was due to various factors like fall in dollar rates, steep rise in crude prices and widespread damages by Hurricane Katrina, which touched the US coast on August 29.
In the domestic market, heavy demand for silver and silver jewellery was due to the record-breaking rally in gold, which forced the consumers to turn to silver, the cheaper alternative to the yellow metal, a jeweller said.
Despite the steep rise in prices in December, demand for gold remained quite high. However, there was a marginal fall in jewellery demand due to price volatility, traders said.
The factors contributing to high demand in India were a strong economy, increased promotion, which encouraged purchases among urban consumer, boost to rural income from high crop prices combined with a good winter harvest, and the growth in new retail outlets, the World Gold Council said.
However, the record-breaking rally came to an end on December 13 when both gold and silver met with heavy profit-selling at higher level following a steep rally in the global prices and declined sharply. But they still managed to close with handsome gains over the previous year's closing prices.
During the year, strike against Value Added Tax and the 2 per cent excise duty on branded jewellery forced the market to down shutters. Similarly, the market remained closed on July 27 and 28 due to incessant rain in the city and its suburbs.
