Break on meteoric rally! Sharp fall in gold and silver prices, silver crashes by 24,000; gold cheaper by 8,000

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Gold and silver prices witnessed a sharp decline on Friday, ending their recent meteoric rally. After days of strong gains, heavy profit booking by investors led to a sudden fall in precious metal prices. As soon as trading began on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), both gold and silver were seen trading in the red.

The steepest fall was recorded in silver prices. On MCX, silver futures slipped by nearly ₹24,000. Silver with March 5 expiry fell by ₹23,993 to trade at ₹3,75,900 per kilogram. This decline came just a day after silver crossed the historic ₹4 lakh per kilogram mark for the first time, closing on Thursday at ₹3,99,893 per kilogram. Silver had earlier touched its lifetime high of ₹4,20,048 per kilogram, from where it saw a massive single-day drop of around ₹44,148.

Gold prices also faced a sharp correction. On MCX, gold became cheaper by nearly ₹8,000 per 10 grams as soon as the market opened, reflecting strong selling pressure after the recent surge.

According to the All India Sarafa Association, silver had continued its upward momentum for the fourth consecutive session on Thursday, rising by ₹19,500 or 5.06 percent to reach a record ₹4,04,500 per kilogram (including all taxes). At the same time, gold of 99.9 percent purity surged by ₹12,000 or 7.02 percent, climbing from the previous close of ₹1,71,000 to a new all-time high of ₹1,83,000 per 10 grams (including all taxes).

So far in January, gold prices have risen by more than 24 percent, marking the sixth consecutive month of gains and the strongest monthly rise since January 1980. Silver prices have jumped by nearly 62 percent this month, indicating the biggest monthly rally in the metal’s history, before the sharp correction seen today.