Gold price extends losses, settles at Rs 30,700 per 10 grams

New Delhi: Gold prices dropped for the second successive session on Monday, driven down by a sluggish trend overseas amid muted interest from local jewellers.

In the national capital, gold of 99.9 per cent and 99.5 percent purity slumped Rs 100 each to Rs 30,700 and Rs 30,550 per 10 grams, respectively. The precious metal had shed Rs 50 on Saturday.

Silver, however, recouped Rs 250 to Rs 40,750 per kg on scattered enquiries from industrial units and coin makers.

At Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), gold prices for delivery in October declined Rs 65, or 0.22 per cent, to Rs 29,520 per 10 grams in a business turnover of 444 lots.

Globally, gold eased today as the prospect of a fractured parliament in Germany following Chancellor Angela Merkel's less than resounding election victory over the weekend knocked the euro lower.

Consequent dollar strength helped push gold back towards Thursday's low of USD 1,287.61 an ounce, its weakest since Aug. 25, which fed into a second straight weekly decline for the metal.

Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at USD 1,295.50 an ounce. Gold has now slipped nearly 5 percent from the more than one-year high it hit on Sept 8, largely on the back of concerns over North Korea`s nuclear ambitions, which have now waned.

Gold has also come under pressure from rising expectations that the Federal Reserve will lift US interest rates once more this year, and start trimming the USD 4.5 trillion in bonds and other assets it built up following the 2008 financial crisis.