(Reuters) - A weaker rupee helped gold futures surge past their highest level in nearly a fortnight, hurting purchases by gold wholesalers, who had sought to stock for the festival season amid a gloomy import outlook. * The most-active gold for August delivery on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) hit a high of 29,397 rupees per 10 grams early Monday, the level last seen on July 11, before trading 0.37 percent higher at 29,386 rupees per 10 grams at 0820 GMT. * Imports of gold into India have been subdued so far this year, with occasional buying at sub-28,000 rupees level. * "Buying is zero as rupee has depreciated again," said Haresh Acharya, head of bullion desk, Parker Bullion in Ahmedabad, adding there could be compulsory buying for festivals. * The rupee, which dropped to its lowest level in over a week, plays an important role in determining the landed cost of the dollar-quoted yellow metal. * A below-average monsoon could impact farm incomes and thereby gold demand as most of the country's gold imports target rural areas. * India's gold imports fell by over a half in the June quarter and could slide by a third over the next three months as prices inflated by a weak rupee and a 4 percent import duty encourage traders to use scrap, a Reuters poll showed. * Silver edged lower following copper, another industrial metal. * Silver for September delivery on the MCX was 0.27 percent lower at 52,697 rupees per kg. * At 1:15 p.m., following were the prices in rupees quoted by HDFC Bank in the spot market : Monday Friday ============================================= Gold .999/10 grams 29,563 29,378 Silver .999/kg 51,385 51,097 At 1:53 p.m., following were the prices in rupees on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd <0#MAU:>: Contract Current price Net change ============================================= Aug gold 29,320 +43 Sept silver 52,648 -194 (Reporting by Siddesh Mayenkar; Editing by Jijo Jacob)

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