'Pushyanakshatra': Gujarat buys 2,000 kg silver, 800 kg gold

A nominal fall of around Rs500 in gold prices and Rs1,000 in silver was enough to give a big boost to the sale of the two metals on the auspicious occasion of Guru Pushyanakshatra on Thursday.  If traders and jewellers are to be believed, 2,000 kg of silver and 800 kg gold, worth around Rs225 crore may have been sold in the state on Thursday alone.

Gold sales is estimated to be at around Rs214 crore while the figure for silver is Rs11 crore in the state.  Bullion traders and jewellers of Ahmedabad estimates that around 300 kg of gold and 700 kg of silver were sold in Ahmedabad alone.

Jewellers said the demand was the highest for gold and diamond studded gold jewellery. The demand for gold coins, bars and silver jewellery was also high when compared to every day sales. Gold fell by around Rs500 on Thursday while silver prices went down by Rs1,000.

On Thursday gold was traded at around Rs26,500 per 10 gram while silver was traded below Rs52,000 per kg levels. “There was a rush in the store for the whole day,” said director of AB Jewels, Manoj Soni. “Stable price and marginal correction in rates helped pull customers. Counter sales was much better than bookings,” he said.

According to Soni, around 300 kg of gold may have been bought in Ahmedabad on Thursday. A month ago gold was trading at around Rs28,500 to Rs29,000 per 10 gram while silver was sold at around Rs60,000 per kg. “For now, the prices have fallen which in turn attracted the customers and gave a boost to gold
demand.    

We are estimating that around 2,000 kg of silver and 800 kg of gold may have been bought in Gujarat on Guru Pushyanakshatra," said city-based bullion trader and analyst, Girish Choksi.

According to Choksi, in volume terms, sale of silver is higher. "Silver is cheaper compared to gold and hence its demand was on the upside in terms of volume. While in terms of value, sale of gold was far ahead," he said. Jewellers said demand for bars and coins was less when compared with demand for gold jewellery.

"This day is considered auspicious to buy jewellery and so it helped in the sales. Positive sentiments and marginal drop in prices also helped matters," said Pranav Dalal, Forever Jewellery.  He said demand for light-weight jewellery was higher. "Compared to previous year, we witnessed 10% more rise in gold jewellery sales in terms of volume," said Dalal.