Gold sank further, hitting over 18 month low and falling below the Rs 26,000 per 10 gm mark at the bullion market here today on the back of relentless selling by stockists and investors despite a strong rebound in global markets though investor sentiment remained subdued.
Logging its fourth straight day of losses, standard gold of 99.5 per cent purity fell by Rs 650 to close at Rs 25,900 per 10 gm from Monday's closing level of of Rs 26,550.
Pure gold of 99.9 per cent purity dropped by a similar margin to finish at Rs 26,040 per 10 grams from Rs 26,690 yesterday.
Silver also dipped to nearly 26-month low on heavy speculative unwinding.
Silver ready (.999 fineness) slumped by Rs 630 to conclude at Rs 46,360 per kg from Rs 46,990 yesterday.
In overseas, gold witnessed a strong rebound on hectic physical buying after the previous session's record-breaking loss, though investors were jittery over more falls on speculations about selling by debt-ridden Cyprus and other eurozone nations.
In Europe, spot gold was bid up at USD 1,387.01 an ounce (about 28.35 grams) in early trade. It had dropped to a two-year low of USD 1,321.35 an ounce in previous session.
