Gold ETF turnover nears Rs 500 cr on Akshaya Tritiya

Investors rushed to trade in gold ETFs, which allow investment in yellow metal in non-physical electronic mode, on 'Akshaya Tritiya' today with turnover nearing Rs 500 crore on two bourses the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) by 7 pm.

The NSE alone witnessed volumes of more than Rs 400 crore as of 7 pm, while the BSE also clocked nearly Rs 80-crore worth trade.

The trading was scheduled to continue for another two hours, as both the NSE and BSE have decided to extend the trade timing till 2100 hrs to cash on the investor's demand for gold on 'Akshaya Tritiya', considered an auspicious day for buying the yellow metal.

Both the exchanges have also waived off any transaction fees on gold ETFs for today, and extended trading beyond the normal closing at 1520 hrs.

The trade volume has more than doubled because last year as NSE had seen volumes of Rs 172 crores in Gold ETFs on Akshaya Tritiya last year on May 16, 2010.

Volumes have been showing high growth in the last three years and have shown impressive growth in the run up to Akshaya Tritiya this year as well. Yesterday, volumes shot up to Rs 179 crore at NSE, a trend that was not seen in the run up to the festival last year.

The NSE said that nearly 70,000 investors traded in gold ETFs today as against nearly 41,000 investors on Akshaya Tritiya last year.

The number of gold ETF units traded till 7 pm today were nearly 18 lakh, while last year on Akshaya Tritiya it was a little over 10.5 lakh.

Earlier this month, the NSE and BSE had jointly decided to conduct extended live trading session on May 6 on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya for trading in Gold Exchange Traded Fund (Gold ETF) securities.

The word 'Akshaya' means something that never diminishes and it is believed that something valuable purchased on this day never loses value. The day is, therefore, considered auspicious for buying of gold, jewellery and other valuable items.

Akshaya Tritiya is observed on the third day of the Hindi month of Vaishaka.

Last year, Akshaya Tritiya had fallen on a Sunday and the exchanges had kept trading open till 1700 hrs. The NSE saw the turnover more than doubling for gold ETFs in last fiscal.

The total traded value of gold ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) on NSE surged to Rs 4,074.30 crore in fiscal year 2010-11 ended March 31, as against Rs 1842.36 crore in the previous year.