RTRS: India gold demand subdued as prices near 15,000
MUMBAI: India's gold demand stayed weak on Wednesday as prices gained for the second continuous session nearing the keenly-watched 15,000-rupee
mark, dealers said.
"There are no buyers as 15,000 (rupees) is a psychological level and they are waiting for prices to come down," said Pinakin Vyas, chief manager-treasury with IndusInd Bank in Mumbai.
The most active August contract was 0.05 percent higher at 14,864 rupees at 2:12 p.m., after gaining 0.3 percent in the previous session.
Some buyers were on the sidelines hoping for falls ahead, dealers added. "Market may get activated if prices fall to 14,200 rupees," said another dealer with a state-run bank in Mumbai.
Traders and dealers said scrap sales have slowed as sellers awaited higher prices.
"Now they want to sell gold for 15,500 rupees, so collections have come down," said Jitendra Kantilal Jain, partner at Mumbai's Jugraj Kantilal & Co, which buys scrap gold to refine to be repackaged as bars.
"Since people have seen 16,000 levels, current prices seem to be very less for them," said Kapil Chokshi, partner with Chokshi Arvind Jewellers, a scrap dealer in Mumbai's Zaveri Bazzar.
India witnessed huge scrap sales in February when prices struck never-seen-before levels of more than 16,000 rupees, halting imports of fresh bars.