With bears running amok on Dalal Street, on Monday, investment in equities has become less than half as attractive as the that in gold.

Moreover, the precious metal is likely to glitter more in the bullion markets as there is no sign in sight of bulls returning to stock markets.

An analysis of the past one year performances in the two markets shows that the returns have been close to 40 per cent for investors in gold. In comparison, Monday’s heavy plunge in the stock market benchmark Sensex to sub-15,000 level dragged down the equity return to less than 20 per cent for the same period.

The gold prices were being quoted at all-time high levels of near Rs 13,500 per 10 gram in the bullion market on Monday, representing a gain of over Rs 4,000 over its year-ago level, when it was being quoted near Rs 9,350 per 10 gram level. In comparison, with day’s 951-points plunge — its second biggest ever— the Sensex dropped to 14,809.49 points, which represents a gain of just about 17.7 per cent over its year-ago level of 12,644.99 points. Even silver has seen an appreciation of nearly double of the same in the Sensex over the past one year. The silver prices, currently being quoted at record high levels near Rs 25,500 per kg, has gained nearly 30 per cent over its year-ago level of about Rs 19,500.

Gold and silver prices would continue to gain as long as pressure continues on US dollar, domestic brokerage firm SMC Global’s Vice-President Rajesh Jain told PTI. “Gold and silver prices may continue to gain ground over the next few months, as it could take some time for equity markets to recover,” Jain added.