Gold remained under immense selling pressure for the fifth consecutive day at the domestic bullion market here today due to sluggish offtake by stockists and retailers in the face of bearish overseas sentiment.
Elsewhere, silver also plummeted sharply following frantic unwinding by speculative traders.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched three ambitious schemes to reduce the physical demand for gold and fish out 20,000 tonnes of the precious metal worth USD 800 billion lying idle with households.
The Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS), 2015 will offer option to resident Indians to deposit their precious metal and earn an interest of up to 2.5 per cent; while under the Sovereign Gold Bonds Scheme, investors can earn an interest rate of 2.75 per cent per annum by buying paper bonds.
Modi also unveiled the first ever Indian gold coin & bullion, bearing national emblem Ashok Chakra on one side and Mahatma Gandhi's image engraved on the other side.
Standard gold (99.5 purity) declined by Rs 75 to end at Rs 25,875 per 10 grams from overnight closing level of Rs 25,950.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also dropped by a similar margin to settle at Rs 26,025 per 10 grams compared to Rs 26,100 yesterday.
Silver (.999 fineness) plunged by Rs 450 per kg to finish at Rs 36,000 against Rs 36,450 earlier.
On the global front, the yellow-metal continued its downward spiral after Fed Chair Janet Yellen reiterated that a December rate lift-off was possible following robust US macro data as well as a stronger dollar.
Spot was trading marginally lower at USD 1,110 an ounce in early European session, while silver quoted little changed at USD 15.03 an ounce.
