Gold continued its losing streak for the third straight week

Mumbai: Gold continued its losing streak for the third straight week, as the yellow-metal closed below the psychologically important Rs 29,000-mark at the domestic bullion market, largely in-tandem with a weakening trend overseas amid poor demand from stockists and jewellers.

Besides weak global trend, fall in demand from jewellers and cash shortage following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's shock withdrawal of high-value notes to fight "black money" mainly kept gold prices lower, a dealer said.

The yellow-metal lost a whopping 5.98 per cent in its three-week downslide. Elsewhere, silver too fell for the second straight week owing to lacklustre industrial demand.

The white-metal lost a whopping 20.02 per cent in its two-week downslide. Globally, gold prices slipped to hit a fresh 9-month low intra-day, leading to a roughly 2 per cent drop in the week, after the dollar index notched its highest reading in over a decade.

As widely expected, if US Federal Reserve goes for interest rate hike next month, investors will vouch for dollar rather than non-yielding gold.

Besides, the rising dollar will cut demand for precious metals priced in the greenback. Gold futures for December delivery fell USD 10.30, or 0.9 per cent, to USD 1,179 an ounce on Friday, the lowest finish for the lead contract since the first week of February.

Meanwhile, December silver nosed higher by 7 cents, or 0.5 per cent, at USD 16.465 an ounce on Friday. Silver ended the week 0.4 per cent lower after hitting its lowest mark since June, earlier this week.