Reeling under tremendous selling pressure for the third straight day, sparkly metal - gold nosedived to touch a four-year low and closed below the key significant Rs 25,000 milestone at the bullion hub here.
The plunge, mainly attributed to global spill-over effects after the scary fall in value of the shiny metal worldwide trade where the broad-based commodities bore the brunt of investors' panic selling recently amid a flash-crash.
Though the yellow-metal has taken a beating spooked by a massive global commodity meltdown, breaking down below the 25,000 support level predominantly triggered panic unwinding from bullion funds as well as speculative traders.
Standard gold (99.5 purity) slumped by Rs 300 to finish at Rs 24,820 per 10 gm from Tuesday's closing level of Rs 25,120.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also tumbled by a similar margin to end at Rs 24,970 per 10 grams compared to Rs 25,270.
After outperforming the equity markets for more than a decade, finally gold has lost its glimmer - in India as well as the global markets, a bullion trader commented.
But a revival in monsoon in the country coupled with the festive and marriage season demand may revive the market sentiment, he added.
Yellow-metal shot to a lifetime high of Rs 33,790 per 10 grams in August, 2013.
Elsewhere, moving with the general trend, silver also fell back after a brief overnight recovery on subdued industrial demand.
Silver (.999 fineness) moved down by Rs 90 to settle at Rs 34,635 per kg against Rs 34,725 yesterday.
Globally, the shiny-metal plummeted further, extending its brutal sell-off for the 10th straight day on expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates at its September policy meet in the midst of robust US macro data.
Spot gold was substantially lower at USD 1,090.80 an ounce in early European trading and silver was quoted weak at USD 14.72 an ounce.
