Country's jewellery export witnessed modest growth of 0.45% to $21.11 billion in FY09 despite low demand from traditional markets of US and European countries. The sector performed well in first half of the fiscal. However, exports dipped by 18.9% during the second half under the impact of global slowdown and higher gold prices.

Gold nudged up on Thursday, adding to gains from the previous session on concern about the global economy and the financial sector, as well as physical buying in India, the world's largest consumer. But the market lacked momentum to push towards the key $900 mark, weighed down by stalling investment in the world's largest goldbacked exchange-traded fund.

Buying from India ahead of the Akshaya Tritya festival on April 27, an auspicious time for gold buying, continues to lend support. Also, while some risk appetite has returned in recent weeks with stocks recovering from their lows, investor preference for gold as a safe-haven asset remained intact.

Gold prices faced resistance at psychological level of $900/Oz. Gold prices fell relinquishing early gains as global share prices arrested theirdecline and overshadowed credit jitters that had previously heightened bullion's appeal.

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said holdings remained unchanged at 1,105.98 tonnes as of April 21 after investor outflows early this week reached their biggest since early September.

Holdings hit a record 1,127.68 tonnes on April 9. Recovery in physical buying by India, the world's largest importer, with MMTC Ltd saying it would import

After a steep decline in price during last week, demand from India was seen improving due to Akshaya Tritya festival and U. S. stocks broadly dropped more than 3 percent, stirred by worries that problems would persist for the struggling banking sector which led to sharp upside in precious metals. Every time risk aversion has risen, we have seen precious metals moving up.

Gold remained to trade on a weak note, as it slightly breached below the weekly swing low.

The yellow metal was not capable to break the neckline of head and shoulders model at $900 and fell down, hinting that the first conservative target of $845 is on the right track.

The weekly momentum oscillator maintains with a downbeat crossover of the moving average and is close to give a crosswalk under the zero line.

The oscillator on the every day charts is dealing below the zero line. It has yet again given a bearish crossover of the moving average, in support of the bearish preconception.

Precious metals extended the loss on Friday on Comex as dollar strengthened sharply against Euro after the comment from ECB president gave a hint they might cut interest rate by quarter basis points led to correction in precious metals.

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said holdings fell to 1,105.98 tonnes as of April 17, down 13.45 tonnes or 1.2 percent from the previous day. It was the biggest one-day decline since Oct. 3.

The dollar neared a one-month high against the euro with the single currency under selling pressure due to uncertainty over what policy steps the European Central Bank will take next.