Gold ends steady in lacklustre trade, silver gains

Gold prices ended flat at the bullion market here today amid mute demand from stockists and traders despite a firm global cues.

Silver, however, gained further on continued speculative off-take and good demand from industries.

Both standard gold of 99.5 per cent purity and pure gold of 99.9 per cent purity finished at last Saturday's level of Rs 30,415 and Rs 30,555 per 10 gm, respectively.

Silver ready (.999 fineness) hardened by Rs 45 to close at Rs 59,460 per kg as against Rs 59,415 last weekend.

"Lack of physical buying along and shifting of fund to equities also attributed to the market trend," dealer said.

The Government today hiked the import duty on gold and platinum to 6 per cent from 4 per cent with immediate effect - a move aimed at curbing imports of the precious metals to check the widening current account deficit.

However, the duty hike had no impact on the yellow metal's prices in Member bullion market.

In the global markets, gold rose supported by signs of progress in US debt ceiling talks amid higher euro after first Rozanne Finance Ministers meeting of the year, though Martin Luther King holiday in US kept the market subdued.

In Europe, spot gold was bid up at USE 1,687.69 an ounce in early trade and spot silver bid higher at US 31.86 an ounce.

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