After a brief rebound, gold prices fell back sharply to hit a four-month low at the domestic bullion market here today due to renewed selling by stockists on persistent weak demand.
The domestic sentiment for gold turned extremely bearish after the metal plummeted to an eight-month low in worldwide trade overnight after Federal Reserve chairperson Janet Yellen reiterated her hawkish outlook for an initial interest rate hike this year.
A sharp rally in local equity markets also influenced the trading sentiment to some extent, a bullion trader said.
Elsewhere, silver also tumbled owing to frantic speculative unwinding.
Standard gold (99.5 purity) slumped by Rs 175 to end at Rs 25,785 per 10 grams from Wednesday's closing level of Rs 25,960.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also dropped by a similar margin to settle at Rs 25,935 per 10 grams as compared to Rs 26,110 previously.
Silver (.999 fineness) tanked by a whopping Rs 645 to conclude at Rs 35,025 per kg against Rs 35,670 yesterday.
In overseas trade, spot gold was marginally lower at USD 1,144.50 an ounce in early European trade and silver quoted weak at USD 14.95 an ounce.
