Bullion slumped 2.6 percent yesterday as the dollar strengthened and after Lee Eung Baek, head of reserve management at the Bank of Korea , described gold as an “illusion” and said the bank is unlikely to raise holdings.

Gold hit a record $1,065.25 an ounce in Europe on Tuesday as the dollar fell to day lows versus the euro, fuelling interest in bullion asan alternative asset.

Just like the word Akshaya, which means something that does not dwindle, in Akshaya Tritiya, the celebration that surrounds the occasion does not seem to diminish. While offering discounts on gold and promotions by banks during Akshaya Tritiya has been around for the past few years, this year, jewellers have also come up with more and more interesting ways to woo the customer.

According to GATA (Gold Anti Trust Action Committee), about 15000 tonnes of gold has been loaned by the Central banks to the Bullion banks for which they paid about 1% per annum. The Bullion banks then sold the “loaned” gold on the open market and invested the proceeds at 6-7% per annum.

India gold continued its record-breaking spree on Thursday as investors pored money into the safe haven asset due to deepening global recession ,analysts said.Gold futures on the continuous charts was 0.70 percent higher at 15,670 rupees per 10 grams at 10:56 a.m., after hitting a record of 15,706 rupees earlier in the session.