India gold futures may tread higher this week on expectations of a weak rupee and re-surfacing physical demand ahead of a local festival, analysts said. The most-traded June contract was 0.91 percent higher at 14,159 rupees per 10 grams at 4:56 p.m., after losing 1.2 percent last week. "The bias is bullish due to weak rupee and technical retracement," said Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, director, Commtrendz Research in Mumbai."Physical buying would also support," he said. A weak rupee makes the dollar quoted asset expensive. The rupee extended its drop in afternoon trade as losses in other Asian currencies and paring of rise in local stocks weighed on sentiment. "Momentum indicators and the horizontal supports are hinting that there could be recovery attempt from the current trading levels," said Pradeep Unni, senior research analyst with Richcomm Global Services in Dubai. "If gold manages to hold above the 14,055 (rupees) in the next two trade sessions, we might see slight bounce back to 14,250-14,500 zone once again," said Unni. Physical traders in India, the world's largest consumer, continued to stock the yellow metal ahead of Akshaya Tritiya, an auspicious day to buy gold. According to the World Gold Council, India is said to have consumed 48.99 tonnes of the yellow metal last year during Akshaya Tritiya. Akshaya Tritiya, which falls on April 27, is the second-most auspicious day to buy gold after Dhanteras.

Source