Taking a cue from the London and New York markets at the weekend, gold and silver prices fell sharply on the bullion market in Mumbai on Monday, while Asian markets showed a positive trend.

The metals bore the brunt of heavy offloading by stockists on lack of industrial demand following concerns over a slowdown in the global economy.

Silver fell to $13.11/13.16 an ounce in London from $14.15/14.21 in New York on last Thursday, after touching an intra-day low of $12.39 an ounce, its weakest since last September in Asian trading.

It recovered by more than four per cent to $13.24/ 13.30 an ounce compared to $12.74/12.84 an ounce on late Friday in New York, which helped the white metal bounce back in late deals, dealers said.

Spot gold hit an intra-day low of $773.90 before being quoted at $787.65/789.25 late in New York on Friday but recovered to quote at $800.25/801.75 in Asian early trade on Monday.

On the domestic front, silver (.999 fineness) resumed sharply lower at Rs 20,560 but recovered modestly on the back of a positive trend in Asian trade.

It still ended lower by Rs 1,675 per kilo to Rs 20,670 from last weekend's level of Rs 22,345.

Standard gold (99.9 purity) dipped by Rs 270 per ten gram to Rs 11,410 from last close of Rs 11,680, while pure gold (99.5 purity) quoted sharply lower at Rs 11,470 from the previous close of Rs 11,750.