Silver drops on stockists offering, gold steady

Mumbai, Feb 17 (PTI) Silver prices dropped at the bullionmarket here today on the back of fresh offloading stockistsand speculators following a bearish trend in Internationalmarkets.

On the other hand gold held steady in the absence of anymajor buying activity despite firm overseas trend.

Silver ready (.999 fineness) fell by Rs 155 per kg tofinish at Rs 46,795 from Wednesday''s closing level of Rs46,950.

However, standard gold (99.5 per cent purity) and puregold (99.9 per cent purity) closed unaltered at Rs 20,370 andRs 20,470 per 10 grams respectively.

In New York, gold futures ended higher on concerns overspreading of unrest across the Middle East that luredinvestors to safe-haven assets.

Gold for April delivery gained to USD 1,375.10 an ounceon the COMEX division of NYMEX, while March silver slipped toUSD 30.63 an ounce as against USD 30.70.