Gold zooms to a record Rs34,500 per 10 gm

Gold prices hit a new high of Rs34,500 per 10 gram in the Mumbai bullion market today on the back of a record plunge of the rupee to levels below 68.82 per dollar and a firm trend in markets abroad.

The yellow metal pared some of the initial gains as stockists booked profit, but still closed trading at Rs33,900 per 10 gram, posting the biggest ever single-day gain of Rs1,900.

Gold's previous high was Rs32,975 per 10 gram hit on 27 November last year.

Gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purities also rallied by Rs1,900 each to Rs33,900 and Rs33,700 per 10 grams, respectively. Sovereign shot up by Rs300 to Rs25,500 per piece of eight gram.

Silver also posted the steepest rise of Rs3,700 to Rs58,500 per kg on increased offtake by industrial units and coin makers.

Gold for October delivery on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) zoomed by Rs1,839 to Rs33,715 per 10 grams against its previous close of Rs31,876.

In intra-day trade the benchmark contract rose as much as Rs33,824, up Rs1,948 per 10 grams from its previous close.

In overseas trade, gold climbed to over three-month high in global markets as speculation that the US could lead military action against Syria.

Spot gold was up 0.9 per cent at $1,417.10 per ounce, having earlier hit $1,423.41, the highest since 15 May.

Gold for December delivery rose by $27.10 or 2 per cent to $1,420.20 an ounce on the Comex division of NYMEX.

The yellow metal rose by 1.3 per cent to 1,433.83 dollars an ounce in the Singapore market, the highest since 14 May, while silver prices rose 2.6 per cent to 25.10 dollars an ounce, its highest since 15 April.

India's gold imports in April-July rose 87 per cent to 383 tonnes. After a dip in June, gold imports again surged in July with 47 tonnes of inward shipments compared with 31 tonnes in the previous month.