Gold on Wednesday fell by Rs 440, its second biggest fall in the year, halting the rising trend of several weeks. The precious metal lost 2.47 per cent at Rs 17,360 per ten grams in the bullion market on heavy selling by stockist amid a weak global trend. Gold, which has been on a correction drive over the past week, lost Rs 510 on Saturday, the steepest for the year, taking the loss in the past five trading sessions to Rs 1,260 after touching an all-time high of Rs 18,550 on December 3. A similar weakness was noticed in silver, which has been under selling pressure ever since the metal in international markets fell from over 19 dollar to trade near $17 an ounce. Silver ready dropped 420 to Rs 28,080 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 1,220 to Rs 27,680 per kg on reduced off take by speculators. Gold has been on a rally since the central banks in India, Russia, Sri Lanka and Mauritius purchased more than half of the International Monetary Fund's scheduled sale of 403 tonnes of gold.

Source