Gold up by Rs 125, silver at record high of Rs 49,500 per kg

New Delhi, Feb 21 (PTI) Silver prices spurted by Rs 800to touch a new peak of Rs 49,500 per kg on the bullion markettoday on heavy buying by stockists in line with a firm globaltrend.

Gold also moved up by Rs 125 to Rs 20,870 per 10 gramson pick up in local demand for the ongoing marriage seasonand firm global cues.

Traders said that silver prices scaled to Rs 49,500 perkg on aggressive buying influenced by reports of the preciousmetal soaring to 30-year high in the overseas markets today.

Trading sentiment remained bullish after gold in globalmarkets rose to seven-week high and silver to a record peak inmore than 30 years as mounting tension in the Middle Eastlured investors to buy the precious metals as an alternateinvestment option, they added.

Gold in the global markets, which normally sets theprice trend on the domestic front, increased by 0.5 per centto USD 1,396.35 an ounce, the highest level since January 4.

Silver rose 1.5 per cent to USD 33.14 an ounce, the highestlevel since March 1980.

On the domestic front, silver ready surged by Rs 800 toRs 49,500 per kg, a level never seen before. Silverweekly-based delivery shot up by Rs 945 to Rs 49,490 per kg.

However, silver coins met resistance at existing higherlevels and tumbled by Rs 2,000 each to Rs 54,000 for buyingand Rs 54,500 for selling of 100 pieces.

In line with a general firm trend, the gold of 99.9and 99.5 per cent purity shot up by Rs 125 and Rs 115 toRs 20,870 and Rs 20,750 per 10 grams, respectively.

Sovereign also rose by Rs 30 to a new peak of Rs 16,980per piece of eight grams.