| Spot gold price touched a high of Rs 9,700 per 10 grams, from Saturday's close of Rs 9,520 as overseas spot gold rose to a new 25-year high of $664 a troy ounce. |
| As the white metal overseas price trudged towards $14-a-troy-ounce level, touching a high of $13.97, domestic silver price was at Rs 20,800 per 1 kilogram from Saturday's Rs 20,500. |
| At 1620 IST, crude oil spot prices traded at a high of $72.42 a barrel as the Euro continued its surge against the greenback at 1.2618 per dollar. |
| Market players expect crude to touch a high of $85 a barrel and euro cross 1.44 level against a dollar. Despite spiralling prices, last week saw good buying of gold in the country. |
| "Since Thursday, Indian gold buying was half a billion dollars. Buying was more on Thursday-Friday than on the day of Akshaya Tritiya," said T Gnansekar, a Mumbai-based independent analyst. |
| Gold prices were firm on hopes of good demand in the ongoing wedding season, which began on April 12 and with Akshaya Tritiya, an auspicious occasion to buy the yellow metal, on April 30 (Sunday). |
| However, overall domestic gold buying remains about 20-30 per cent lower than last year's around the same time, owing to higher prices, said Bhargav Vaidya, an independent bullion analyst. |
| "It (buying) is much lower in Mumbai-about 45 per cent-because the commodity attracts value added tax in Maharashtra, than Ahmedabad, Surat, Chennai and Bangalore," said Suresh Hundia, director of Hundia Exports and former president of Bombay Bullion Association. |
| With the market witnessing a marriage season, hoarded gold is out and jewellers are busy recycling it, said Rajesh Saraf, a Delhi-based jeweller. |
| Indian gold buying is mostly done under budget constraints. Thus, every price stabilisation sees a huge bout of buying, said Vaidya. |
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