Gold softens on reduced off-take, silver slips sharply

Snapping a four-session rising trend, gold prices turned weak here today due to reduced offtake from stockists and lack of local buying interest.
Silver plunged sharply on the back of heavy offloading from speculators amid sluggish industrial demand.
Standard gold (99.5 purity) eased by Rs 6 to quote at Rs 29,155 per 10 grams at 1700 hrs from last Saturday's level of Rs 29,161, a bullion trader said.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also edged down by a similar margin to Rs 29,305 per 10 grams from Rs 29,311 previously, according to Riddisiddhi Bullions Ltd.
Silver (.999 fineness) tanked by Rs 892 to Rs 43,184 per kg at 1700 hrs from Rs 44,076 previously.

Globally, the yellow metal dropped sharply from three- week high on investor selling following better-than-expected US retail data and strong rebound in dollar valuation.
Spot gold was lower at USD 1,308.70 an ounce in early European trade, while silver was down at USD 19.85 an ounce.