Mumbai: The week played out with gold consolidating,
while silver maintained its momentum during an otherwise lacklustre session for the bullion market amid investors adopting caution.
Trading was more or less sluggish and relatively light during the week in tandem with a range-bound trade overseas.
The yellow metal moved in a tight range as stockists and speculators preferred to stay on the sidelines awaiting some positive trigger to drive the market higher.
However, renewed buying by jewellers and retailers to meet strong seasonal off-take as well as firm investment demand, helped support gold prices.
Silver strengthened further and reclaimed the key Rs 37,000 mark on the back of heavy speculative demand coupled with industrial buying support.
On the global front, shiny metal jumped on safe-haven buying after the Chinese central bank surprisingly cut its benchmark interest rates, despite stronger US macro outcome.
Gold for December delivery climbed to settle at USD
1,197.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the NYMEX against last weekend's level of USD 1,185.60 and silver also moved up to USD 16.40 an ounce from USD 16.31 previously.
On the domestic front, standard gold (99.5 purity) resumed lower at Rs 26,335 and traded in a narrow range of Rs 26,595 and Rs 26,325. It concluded at Rs 26,405 against last weekend's close of Rs 26,400, showing a marginal gain of Rs 5 per 10 grams.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also started weak at Rs 26,485 and hovered between Rs 26,745 and Rs 26,475. It settled at Rs 26,555 from last close of Rs 26,550, posting a rise of Rs 5 per 10 grams.
Silver (.999 fineness) commenced firmly higher at Rs 37,000, but later drifted to a low of Rs 36,660 before rebounding to finish at Rs 37,160. Last Saturday it closed at Rs 36,840, revealing a smart rise of Rs 320 per kilo.
