Bullion: Gold continued its losing streak for the third straight week

Bullion: Gold continued its losing streak for the third straight week at the domestic bullion market on the back of subdued demand from stockists and investors mainly on the turnaround in international markets.

The truncated week saw the market witnessing a narrow-range trade throughout the week amid lack of local buying interest despite festive season, while unwinding of long positions by speculative traders also added downward pressure on gold. However, silver rebounded from its last two week fall, due to speculative lower-level buying and higher industrial demand.

The bullion market remained closed on Tuesday and Wednesday for 'Dussehra' and 'Muharram', respectively. In worldwide trade, gold futures settled lower as the dollar climbed on the back of upbeat US retail sales data, but scored their first weekly gain in three weeks. Futures had posted decline in each of the last two weeks, with last week's around 5 per cent drop being the largest of its kind in more than three years.

The US retail sales rebounded 0.6 per cent in September while producer prices also rose broadly to record their biggest year-on-year increase since December 2014. Gold futures ended the week about 0.3 per cent higher, while silver held on to a nearly 0.4 per cent gain in the week.