Gold prices have jumped 34 per cent to Rs 16,200 per ten gram since the last Dhanteras, a day considered auspicious for buying the precious metal. The prices of gold last year on the Dhanteras day ruled at Rs 12,070 per ten gram.

"Gold prices have risen sharply from last Diwali. If you look at gold prices on the Dhanteras day since 2000, prices have not retreated," Delhi Bullion Market (DBM) President Surender Jain said.

For the first time in the last eight years, people would be buying gold at above Rs 16,000 per ten gram level on the Dhanteras day, he noted, adding that silver has also become costlier at Rs 27,500 per kg now from Rs 16,600 per kg in the corresponding period 2008.

An analysis of the price trend of the precious metal, especially on the Dhanteras day, showed that gold has become expensive by more than three-fold since 2000. The price of gold in 2000 were at around Rs 4,500 per ten gram.

P P Jewellers Director Pawan Gupta said people are purchasing gold anticipating that prices are not going to come down in the near future, adding that most of them are buying gold and silver coins as against jewellery.

According to bullion experts, gold rates in the domestic market are rising taking cues from the global market, where prices are up due to a weaker dollar.