Seasonal demand pushes gold to seven-week high; silver jumps

Gold rallied to a seven-week high at the bullion market here today on sustained demand from jewellery stockists and retailers supported by highly bullish overseas sentiment.
Silver also rebounded sharply owing to frantic speculative offtake as well as strong industrial demand.
Standard gold (99.5 purity) rose by Rs 210 to finish at Rs 26,840 per 10 grams from last Saturday's closing level of Rs 26,630.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also climbed by a similar margin to end at Rs 26,990 per 10 grams compared to Rs 26,780.
Silver (.999 fineness) shot-up by a whopping Rs 720 to conclude at Rs 38,820 per kg as against Rs 38,100 weekend.

Strong uptick from jewellers and retailers to meet busy wedding and festival season demand alongwith a firming trend in overseas, predominantly bolstered the sentiment, a bullion trader said.
In worldwide trade, the shiny-metal maintained its strong rallying momentum for a second straight session to hit near a three-week high on fading expectations of an early US rate hike on the back of disappointing manufacturing as well as jobs data last weekend.
Spot gold was substantially higher at USD 1,219.00 an ounce in early European trade.