Gold spurts on import duty hike, strong demand; silver also up

Silver gained modestly on speculative demand amid stray industrial buying.

Standard gold of 99.5 per cent purity shot up by Rs 375 per 10 gms to close at Rs 30,790 from Monday's level of Rs 30,415.

Pure gold of 99.9 per cent purity surged by Rs 370 per 10 gms to finish at Rs 30,925 from Rs 30,555.

Silver ready (.999 fineness) went up by Rs 25 to conclude at Rs 59,485 per kg as compared to Rs 59,460 yesterday.

"The hike in import duty on gold and strong wedding season demand affected the market sentiments," dealers said.

The Government yesterday raised the import duty on gold and platinum to 6 per cent from 4 per cent to arrest widening current account deficit.

In the global markets, gold rose on strong euro amidst better than expected German economic data.